Former President Donald Trump ended an exclusive one-on-one interview with a local Fox News TV station with a claim regarding crime rates in Venezuela.
The presumptive GOP presidential nominee said: “Venezuela was very crime ridden.” He added, “They announced the other day a 72 percent reduction in crime in the last year.”
Trump added: “You know why, they moved all their criminals from Venezuela to the good ole USA.” He claims, “And Biden let them do it.” (Note: Trump has repeatedly described migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as “poisoning the blood of our country.”)
When asked ‘where those numbers are coming from?’ during the interview, Trump looked to the side and said, “Ah, I guess I get them from the papers in this case. I think it’s a federal statement, or actually they’re coming from Venezuela.” He repeats, “They’re coming from Venezuela.”
The Venezuelan government doesn’t regularly publish data for homicides or robberies. Politifact has cited data “from Venezuelan sources showing a 32 percent drop in crime in 2024 over the prior year, and a 25 percent drop in violent deaths from 2022 to 2023.” One factor in the decline, according to Venezuelan criminologists cited by Politifact, is “the government’s extrajudicial killings.”
🚨WATCH Trump absolutely CRUMBLE when hit with an easy, softball, fact check question from local affiliate on highly questionable (bullsh*t) statistics he pulled out of his beanbag. pic.twitter.com/n6RzrqnHLq
— Really American 🇺🇸 (@ReallyAmerican1) May 1, 2024
In July, Stanford University published a study called “The mythical tie between immigration and crime.” Researchers found that immigrants are 30% less likely to be incarcerated for crimes than are U.S.-born white individuals — and 60% less likely to be incarcerated that the total U.S.-born population.
[NOTE: Last month while campaigning in Grand Rapids, Michigan and standing in front of a dozen police officers, Trump falsely claimed that US crime statistics are “only” going up. In fact, “most US crime numbers went down last year – and the decreases included one of the largest national declines in murder ever recorded.”]
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