Exeuctive Order 13776: Crime Reduction

What the Executive Order Says

Executive Order (EO) 13776 is entitled "Task force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety".  It was issued on February 9th, 2017 and has 3 sections.

Section 1

This section defines a policy to reduce crime.

Section 2

This section creates a Task force.  The Attorney General will figure out the details and the budget will come from the Justice Department.  The taskforce will meet at least annually and will submit a report annually.  The goals of the taskforce are stated in subsection (c) and these include proposing legislation which would improve public safety and reduce crime as well as identify improvements for crime related data.

Section 3

This section has the necessary fine print to assure the constitutionality of the EO.

My Commentary

The specific issues raised in the policy section include illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and violent crime.  None of these are really what they seem and frankly this EO is entirely demagoguery and simply a political play.
Illegal immigration, especially with regards to immigrants from Mexico as well as immigrants who are Muslim are represented as groups that are almost entirely evil throughout the President's election campaign.  Here again they are being represented the same way.  However, there was some evidence that was presented during the campaign that immigrants often have lower crime rates than a control group of "Americans".  Granted the act of staying in the US without valid papers is in fact against the law, but this question of what to do with the estimated 10 million illegal immigrants is something that Congress must resolve in the end but mass deportations or incarcerations is not going to work.
With regards to drug trafficking, the country is in the midst of an opioid epidemic that was largely created by way of legally prescribed narcotics.  The resolution to the problem is not going to be enforcement as this will not get addicts to go clean.  The removal of the demand for illegal drugs will stop the trafficking.  Removal of the demand will come from treatment and education, not enforcement.  And yet, based on statements and documents leaked around August 1st, the focus of the Attorney General was to try to roll back the legalizations of marijuana that have occurred over the past several years.  But the Task Force, per leaked documents, did not recommend the path that the Attorney General wanted to pursue.
Violent crime is a reference to Chicago.  The murder rate in Chicago is extreme and very sad.  Outside of a few urban areas, the violent crime rates are at historic lows.  However, there is a political need to have the populace afraid so advertising how bad the violent crime rate in the worst areas is necessary.  As to solutions, I don't have any to offer, this is a complicated and difficult situation and will not be solved by a slogan from either the left or the right.  There will be hard work required by the authorities in conjunction with civil groups such as charities, foundations and religious organizations and the timeframe will be years before any real successes could be celebrated.
Here is an update I found on the web.