Monday, January 26, 2026
Page 3
Administration Takes Credit for Plummeting Number of Homicides in Major U.S. Cities
Report Shows 36% Drop in City of Los Angeles From Six Years Ago
By a MetNews Staff Writer
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The rate of murders and other slayings in major cities across the nation has plummeted, WhiteHouse.gov has —providing a link to a Council on Criminal Justice report showing a 36% drop in homicides in the City of Los Angeles from 2019 to 2025—citing efforts by President Donald Trump as a major factor.
However, the report notes that it reckons there to have been 140 homicides in the city in 2025 while the Los Angeles Police Department estimates the number to have been 230.
A statement posted on Thursday on the White House’s website declares:
“Under President Donald J. Trump’s leadership, America is safer than it has been in over a century—and brand new data proves it. A new report shows the murder rate across the nation’s biggest cities plummeted last year to its lowest level since at least 1900, marking the biggest one-year drop in recorded history.
“This monumental turnaround is a direct result of President Trump’s unwavering commitment to Make America Safe Again. In addition to the historic drop in murders last year, the nation experienced steep declines in rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, shooting deaths (fewest since 2015), on-duty law enforcement officer deaths (80-year low), traffic fatalities, and overdose deaths.”
Contrary View
However, a website to which the White House offers a link, Axios.com, comments:
“The big picture: Trump touts himself as a law-and-order president who has tackled crime by sending National Guard troops into predominantly Democrat-run cities and justified his immigration crackdown by linking undocumented immigrants to rising crime.
“• But violent crime was already falling to a two-decade low in Biden’s final year, calling into question whether Trump’s policies have made an impact.”
Assails Democrats
The White House’s statement continues:
“President Trump is reversing the chaos and carnage unleashed by Radical Left Democrats who turned our streets into war zones by coddling criminals and opening our borders. Since taking office, President Trump has deployed a whole-of-government offensive in Democrat-run cities, driving down crime, ridding the streets of savage criminal illegal aliens, backing law enforcement, and bringing back order where incompetent Democrat politicians surrendered to anarchy and despair.
“President Trump’s proven America First agenda is delivering real results for American citizens, proving once and for all that strength and resolve win out over weakness and wokeness—and the results are only just beginning.”
While the White House statement centers on the decrease in major crimes, the Council on Criminal Justice report also deals with minor ones. It says the rate of shoplifting in Los Angeles has soared by 77% in the period from 2018 to 2023.
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