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by IANS |
Washington, Feb 6 (IANS) The White House cited new crime and border data to argue that President Donald Trump’s law-and-order agenda is producing results, pointing to sharp declines in murders, aggressive deportations of criminal migrants, and what it called the most secure border in US history.
At a packed briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said a study by the Council on Criminal Justice showed that “the murder rate across America's largest cities plummeted in 2025 to its lowest level since at least 1900,” calling it “the largest single year drop in murders in recorded history.”
She attributed the decline to border enforcement, stepped-up arrests, and deportations. “This dramatic decline is what happens when a president secures the border, fully mobilizes federal law enforcement to arrest violent criminals and aggressively deports the worst of the worst illegal aliens from our country,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt said the FBI doubled violent crime arrests in 2025 compared with the prior year and made more than 67,000 arrests between Inauguration Day 2025 and January 20, 2026. She said the bureau disrupted 1,800 gangs and criminal enterprises and arrested 1,700 child predators and more than 300 human traffickers.
She also highlighted local data. In Washington, she said, homicides were down 62 percent and motor vehicle theft down 53 per cent. In Memphis, she cited nearly 5,600 arrests under the administration’s “Make Memphis Safe Again” campaign, with aggravated assaults, sexual assaults, and robberies each down sharply.
On immigration, Leavitt said deporting criminal migrants was central to public safety. “Deporting these individuals is one of the primary reasons why America's streets are safer today than they were one year ago,” she said.
She offered examples of deportations involving gang members from Venezuela, El Salvador, and Cuba, and cited polling she said showed broad public support. “Nearly 8 in 10 Americans say criminal, illegal aliens should be deported,” she said.
Leavitt said border enforcement had tightened dramatically. “Zero illegal aliens were released into our homeland over the past nine months,” she said, adding that daily apprehensions had fallen to about 250, compared with more than 5,100 a day during the previous administration.
She defended continued enforcement in cities led by Democrats and said cooperation by state and local officials made operations easier. “ICE is going to continue to do their job in cities and communities across the country,” she said.
Leavitt also addressed election security, saying the president supports passage of the SAVE America Act. She said it would require voter ID, proof of citizenship to register, and direct states to remove non-citizens from voter rolls. “These are very commonsense policies,” she said.
On foreign policy, Leavitt said diplomacy remained the president’s first option with adversaries, including Iran, but stressed that “zero nuclear capability” was a clear demand. She also said the president wanted a “new, improved and modernized treaty” to replace New START.
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