BEDFORD COUNTY, Va. – A teenager is facing charges after Bedford County deputies say he stabbed a man on Wednesday. The sheriff says both the suspect and victim are illegal immigrants who crossed the border through Texas.
Illegal immigration has become a hot-button issue on the campaign trail recently.
Bedford County Sheriff Mike Miller spoke out about illegal immigration crime at J.D. Vance’s rally in Radford about a week ago.
“I never dreamed that we would have to be at this point with illegal immigration,” Miller said. “We would have a direct effect on law enforcement in Bedford County.”
Meanwhile, critics disagree that illegal immigrants are raising crime rates significantly.
“There have been a number of studies that have shown that there’s actually a negative association between being undocumented and committing crimes,” Virginia Tech migrant studies professor and researcher Dr. Rebecca Hester said. “Quite frankly there’s very little incentive for them to put themselves on the radar in any sense, so why would they come all this way to find work only to commit crimes?”
10 News reached out to the sheriff for statistics on how many illegal immigrants have been charged with crimes in the county and at the time of publication have not yet heard back.