Trump to Unveil Record FBI Crime Drop Friday

"President Trump promised to make America safe again and the data proves he has done just that," White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in a statement previewing the trip. "Unlike Defund-the-Police Democrats, President Trump will always stand with our law enforcement officers and deliver safer American neighborhoods."

Blanche gave a more qualified account to DOJ employees on Thursday: "The violent crime rates in this country have gone way way down, and that's not all the federal government, but we are certainly a big part of that success."

Blakeman credits border enforcement. "I think crime is down in many places in the United States because we have sealed the borders," he said, adding that crime in Nassau County is down roughly 4% from last year — a drop he partly attributes to the county's contested cooperation deal with ICE. New York State has outlawed such deals, and Blakeman is suing.

Critics note the trend predates this administration. MS NOW reports that federal data show violent crime falling since 2022, and that while Trump has credited his deployment of National Guard troops to major cities, experts say those deployments have mostly deterred petty theft.

The Politics

Crime is a thinner reed than it was four years ago. In an Economist/YouGov poll published last week, just 3% of respondents named crime their most important issue heading into November. In 2022, by contrast, more than 60% of voters told Pew that violent crime was "very important" to their congressional vote.

The Siena poll released Wednesday also found Hochul narrowly preferred over Blakeman on crime itself, 47% to 44%.

Nassau County contains New York's 4th District, one of the races that will decide control of the House. Democrat Laura Gillen flipped it in 2024; Republican tax official Jeanine Driscoll is trying to win it back, with Trump's endorsement.