Former President Trump repeatedly claimed that crime was “skyrocketing” and that much of it was driven by immigrants. Data shows both claims are false.
Asked about proposals to expel millions of undocumented people from the U.S. in the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, Trump said the number was more than 11 million, because Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden administration “allowed millions of criminals, terrorists, common street criminals, drug dealers, you name it.”
He said other countries are seeing a decline in crime because they are “taking their own criminals off the streets and handing them over to her to be sent to our country.”
“Crime is going down all over the world, except here, where crime is skyrocketing, despite their lies,” Trump claimed. He said crime was “skyrocketing” in the US and taking a “new form” called “immigrant crime.”
When ABC host David Muir pointed out that FBI data showed crime was falling, Trump called it a “fraud.”
Asked to respond, Harris said Trump’s claims were “highly outlandish” coming from someone “who has been indicted on national security crimes, economic crimes and election interference, been convicted of sexual assault and whose next significant court appearance is at his criminal sentencing in November.”
Harris said it’s time to “turn the page.”
Crime and public safety have become major focuses of the presidential election, with each candidate claiming to have a strong record on these issues while attacking their opponents’ records.
Harris has presented herself as a skilled prosecutor who has fought sex offenders, corrupt corporations and banks and international crime organizations, including in her roles as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general.
She has marketed herself in the past as a “progressive prosecutor” who has supported various criminal justice reform measures, such as requiring police officers to wear body cameras, as well as increased federal oversight of local police departments. She has also touted the huge investments being made in local law enforcement under the Biden administration, including through COVID-19 relief funds.
Harris has portrayed Trump as the type of criminal she has gone after in the past, and criticized him for promising to pardon the insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol and police officers on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn President Biden’s election results in Trump’s favor.
Trump has positioned himself as a strong ally of law enforcement, empowering police and immigration officials to more aggressively pursue criminals on the streets.
He has called for a return to old police tactics such as “stop and search” and “broken windows” policing that have raised constitutional concerns in the past, suggested police should not be “too gentle” in arresting suspects, and denied the need for federal oversight of police departments.
Trump has portrayed Harris as a “pro-crime” progressive who he says has been soft on criminals in the past, allowing them to return to crime, and as an advocate for “defunding” the police, after she said in 2020 that public safety needs to be redefined and some law enforcement funding redirected to other priorities, such as education, health care and job opportunities for vulnerable communities.
Violent crime spiked across the country in 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic during Trump’s presidency but has since fallen sharply, and years of research have shown that immigrants are less likely to be incarcerated for crimes than U.S.-born citizens.
Both Trump and Harris have touted the support of law enforcement: Trump last week won the endorsement of the National Fraternal Order of Police, which has more than 375,000 members nationwide, while Harris released a list of 100 current and former law enforcement officials who have endorsed her.
