President Donald Trump, while speaking from the Oval Office, warned that Chicago could be the next city his administration targets for a crime crackdown, after Washington DC.
“Chicago's a mess, you have an incompetent mayor, grossly incompetent. And, we'll straighten that one out probably next. That'll be our next one after this [Washington DC]”, he said. Trump continued that it wouldn't even ‘be tough’, and claimed that people in Chicago were screaming for them to come – while turning to Vice President JD Vance, who agrees with the POTUS.
While Trump went on to say how he had made DC safe, and nobody would get mugged in the nation's capital now, it is important to note that stats have shown that crime rates were actually down in DC. Here's a look at what Chicago's crime numbers say.
Chicago crime statistics
{{/usCountry}}While Trump went on to say how he had made DC safe, and nobody would get mugged in the nation's capital now, it is important to note that stats have shown that crime rates were actually down in DC. Here's a look at what Chicago's crime numbers say.
Chicago crime statistics
{{/usCountry}}Chicago in 2024 saw an overall 5 percent decrease in total reported crimes as compared to 2023. Numbers fell from 124,241 to 118,578, data from the Chicago Police Department showed. Violent crime fell by 6 percent, decreasing from 29,499 to 27,694 incidents.
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In 2023, however, violent crime was up 11 percent as compared to 2022. Chicago, in 2022, saw a huge uptick in robberies – 13 percent – which pushed up the overall violent crime numbers, resulting in a 1 percent increase as compared to 2021. In 2021, also, violent crime increased 5.5 percent as compared to 2020. Meanwhile, 2020 saw a 0.09 percent increase in violent crime rates as compared to 2019.
Thus, the windy city has only seen a recent downtick in violent crime rates when data from 2020 to 2024 is observed.
Will Trump deploy the National Guard?
While Trump has not made any specific announcements about deploying the National Guard in Chicago, he has hailed the actions in DC and very well could deploy the National Guard along with federal officials if the administration chooses to carry out the ‘crackdown’ on crime in Chicago.
However, it is important to note that there has been no official announcement from the Trump administration regarding National Guard deployment in Chicago yet.