Broadcasting on April 24 from the "Hold Their Feet to the Fire 2007" immigration reform rally in Washington, D.C., 630 KHOW-AM host Peter Boyles allowed Kevin Basinet of the Federal Immigration Reform and Enforcement (F.I.R.E.) Coalition to repeat unchallenged the dubious statistic that illegal immigrants kill “25 Americans every day.” As he has with other guests on previous shows, Boyles also failed to challenge Basinet's assertion that the statistic came from “a Government Accounting Office report” -- a reference to the Government Accountability Office, the federal agency commonly known as the GAO. However, as Colorado Media Matters repeatedly has noted, there is no GAO study reporting that 25 Americans per day are killed by illegal immigrants. Furthermore, on the October 26, 2006, broadcast of Boyles' show, Americans for Legal Immigration president William Gheen admitted that “no one really knows how many Americans per day are being killed by aliens and illegal aliens.”

Basinet, the Southwest Regional Coordinator for F.I.R.E., told Boyles that he “want[s] people to understand the very human cost of illegal immigration. And statistically, we're talking about 25 Americans every day.” Boyles asked, “Now, are you sure? And I've heard Congressman [Steve] King [R-IA] say that.” Boyles also asked, “What is your source to say it? Because, as you know ... people challenge that number,” to which Basinet replied, “The information comes from a Government Accounting Office report.” Boyles added, “Now, people tell me that's a total lie fabricated by a bunch of racist bastards like yourself,” then laughed. Basinet responded, referring to the authors of the GAO report, “Well, these are ... basically accountants.”

In fact, the figure Boyles and Basinet cited, that illegal immigrants kill “25 Americans every day,” has no factual basis. As Colorado Media Matters pointed out in a detailed analysis of the myth, King claimed in May 2006 to have “extrapolate[d]” the figure from a GAO study he requested, which he said showed that 28 percent of inmates in federal, state, and local prisons and jails are “criminal aliens.” Although King has not revealed exactly how he performed his “extrapolat[ion],” he apparently applied the noncitizen population of federal prisons to the overall population of federal, state, and local prisons, then multiplied annual murders and non-negligent homicides statistics by 28 percent. Similarly, he apparently then applied his “extrapolate[d]” figure of 25 deaths per day at the hands of legal and illegal noncitizens to the smaller subgroup of illegal immigrants. Colorado Media Matters has reviewed GAO reports addressed to King as well as figures released by the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and has found no support for his assertion that 28 percent of inmates in all U.S. prisons and jails are criminal aliens. In fact, an April 7, 2005, GAO report addressed to King stated that “there was no reliable population and incarceration cost data on criminal aliens incarcerated in all state prisons and local jails.”

Furthermore, data from the BJS suggest that the percentage of prisoners who are criminal aliens, at least at the federal and state levels, is far lower than King claimed. According to the BJS, 6.4 percent of all state and federal inmates at midyear 2005 were “noncitizens” -- not just illegal immigrants -- down from 6.5 percent in 2004, 6.6 percent in 2003, and 6.9 percent in 2002.

Boyles twice has hosted another member of F.I.R.E. Coalition's national staff, co-founder and National Director Jason Mrochek -- on September 8, 2006, and February 14. On both occasions Mrochek, like Basinet, falsely asserted that illegal immigrants kill 25 Americans per day. The F.I.R.E. Coalition also lists the false figure on the left column of its website's home page under the heading “Statistics.”

From the April 24 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show:

BASINET: And I want people to understand the very human cost of illegal immigration. And statistically, we're talking about 25 Americans every day.

BOYLES: Now, are you sure? And I've heard Congressman King say that.

BASINET: Yes.

BOYLES: What is your source to say it? Because, as you know --

BASINET: Yeah, right.

BOYLES: -- people challenge that number.

BASINET: Of course. The information comes from a Government Accounting Office report.

BOYLES: Now, people tell me that's a total lie fabricated by a bunch of racist bastards like yourself. [laughs]

BASINET: Well, these are -- these are basically accountants.

BOYLES: Yeah.

BASINET: But, anyway, what they looked for -- this was a subcommittee run by Steven King -- and he wanted to know, “Hey, what's the prison population for criminal aliens?” Those are legal and illegal. And the reason why you have both there is because the government doesn't want to separate one from the other. Anyway, they, they figured that on a steady rate over the last few years it's been about 27, 28 percent nationwide.

BOYLES: Yeah.

BASINET: We're not talking Orange County, California, or Texas --

BOYLES: Mm-hmm.

BASINET: -- we're talking about the whole country as a total. Taking that number and the FBI crime statistics for violent crimes, or information from the Highway Transportation Safety Board for the number of DUIs -- and assuming that criminal aliens are no more less, or less or more likely to commit these crimes, you do the math, you come up with the number of about 13 DUIs per day and 12 violent crimes per day involving death. So what we're talking about --

BOYLES: DUIs resulting in death.

BASINET: Exactly.

BOYLES: OK.

BASINET: Correct. And if you take 25 a week, that's 175.

BOYLES: Do the math.

BASINET: You take that number, you're talking about a 757 --

BOYLES: Yeah.

BASINET: -- full of Americans. And if one of those planes went down every week --

BOYLES: How long?

BASINET: How long before the FAA --

BOYLES: I say that all the time.

BASINET: -- or how long before you say, “Hey, I'm taking the train.”

BOYLES: How long before they ground -- the government will step up --

BASINET: Exactly.

BOYLES: -- and ground those planes.

BASINET: Right. So the bottom line here is this is about we the people. And folks, if you don't want this tragedy happening to someone you know and love -- like, like my daughter, or your grandkids, or whatnot -- pick up the phone and call your congressman and hold their feet to the fire.