Violent crime and murder rates make for a heated point of discussion. People are concerned with personal safety and the welfare of their families, so violent crime tends to be a major concern; individuals relocating for work, school, or adventure often check crime rates in the area they intend to move before making a decision. But unless the numbers for crime data are fairly collected and reasonably considered, those who prepare the information can skew the results.
The Guardian recently published an article that attacked President Trump for mentioning the rising crime rate during his presidential campaign. It stated that the murder rate in the United States rose 17% from 2013-2017, but claimed this was a temporary uptick that was purposely overblown by the Trump campaign for political gain. The good news is that 2018 has seen a 0.9% decrease in violent crime – not at all thanks to Trump’s policies, of course.
The report claims the 2013-2017 increase was primarily due to “community violence” in urban areas with large black populations, as a result of excessive police violence. It accuses Trump of a “xenophobic” and “misleading” campaign that blamed immigrants for the upward trend in violent crime, minimizing the role of illegal immigrant criminals in the crime rise since 2013. But this ignores the reality that crime committed by illegal immigrants has a unique impact on citizens, simply because it could have so easily been prevented.
Heartbreaking Crimes
Illegal immigration was oft-mentioned but rarely addressed in the political realm until Trump announced his plans to push back against unlawful entry into the country. But the president didn’t spring this out of nowhere; a series of tragic incidents pushed the issue of immigrant crime to the forefront of the national debate.
The Kate Steinle murder was a high-profile incident where an illegal alien in the Sanctuary City of San Francisco allegedly found a handgun on a pier and it “accidentally went off.” The round struck Steinle in the head, killing her. The illegal, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, was found guilty of unlawful gun possession, and not guilty of murder.
Most recently, Mollie Tibbetts’ face was plastered all over the left-wing news after she was reported missing when not coming back from an evening jog. When Tibbets’ boyfriend was suspected of abducting her, the news breathlessly gave updates. Once he was cleared and an illegal alien, Christian Rivera, admitted to the authorities that he had kidnapped, assaulted and murdered her, the leftist media dropped the story. When facts come out and no longer push a liberal narrative, the left quickly moves on to the next manufactured crisis.
Supporting the Police
The Guardian article acknowledges a decrease in violent crime during 2018 but glosses over the matter without providing an explanation. It certainly does not attribute the drop to Trump’s support of law enforcement.
In 2014, Michael Brown, a black man, was shot and killed by a white Ferguson police department officer, sparking riots nationwide over race concerns. The event created a phenomenon known as the “Ferguson effect” amongst law enforcement agencies: It caused law enforcement to pull back on proactive policing tactics and become mostly call responsive only, especially after President Obama decided to give his opinion on the incident and sent the DOJ and FBI in to investigate the shooting.
When police officers fear for prosecution or internal investigations, they will naturally pull back. Instead of attempting to stop crime before it occurs, they will wait and answer a call from dispatch. The direct result is a rising crime rate.
Trump’s policies have given police agencies room to breathe and now the violent crime rate has finally started on a trend downward.
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