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‘15 times higher than…’: Trump admin compares Chicago murder rate with New Delhi, Islamabad
Underscoring Trump administration’s push for federal crime intervention, Leavitt said, “Chicago’s murder rate is more than double that of Islamabad."
The White House drew attention to Chicago’s violent crime rate, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt comparing the city’s murder numbers to those of Pakistan's Islamabad and New Delhi.
Underscoring the administration’s push for federal crime intervention, Leavitt said, “Chicago’s murder rate is more than double that of Islamabad and nearly 15 times higher than that of New Delhi.”
However, the press secretary did not disclose the source for the data she cited.
She argued that the statistics highlight the urgency of US President Donald Trump’s new executive order, which authorizes “specialised units” of the National Guard to deal with “public order” issues in the city.
Mayor resists federal presence
Meanwhile, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson responded with his own executive order on Saturday, barring federal law-enforcement officers from wearing masks or disguises in the city.
The move comes amid Trump’s repeated threats to deploy the National Guard in Chicago, similar to measures he authorized in Washington DC.
“We do not want military checkpoints or armored vehicles on our streets and we do not want to see families ripped apart,” Bloomberg quoted Johnson as saying. “We will take any action necessary to protect the rights of all Chicagoans.”
Trump has called Chicago a “mess,” while Democratic mayors across the country have criticized federal immigration raids and the administration’s aggressive anti-crime measures.
Crime trends show decline
Despite the White House warnings, Chicago police data cited by Bloomberg, show that murders fell 32% to 188 in the first half of the year, the lowest for the period since 2014. Overall violent crime declined 23%, and vehicle theft dropped 28%.
In a related move, California lawmakers and Los Angeles County officials are considering new rules that would prohibit law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from wearing masks.
The discussions follow Trump’s June deployment of thousands of troops to the Los Angeles area to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and contain anti-deportation protests.
