Well, here’s a welcome bit of news for Christmas Eve: Crime, especially murder, has seen a stark drop under the watchful eye of the current administration.
President Donald Trump has long made combating crime and lawlessness a big part of his campaign pitch.
That comes in stark contrast to Trump’s ideological opposites in the Democratic Party, which is often accused of being far too soft on crime.
The leftist argument appears to be that criminality is downstream of things outside the criminal himself — issues such as poverty or lack of opportunity. They often claim that while stiff punishments may satisfy some moral outrage, they do little to dissuade criminality itself.
Alas, according to crime expert Jeff Asher, it appears that being tough on crime does appear to work.
According to Axios, Asher has found that crime has fallen across the board in 2025, compared to the year prior.
Crimes such as motor vehicle theft (down 23.2 percent), robbery (down 18.3 percent), and rape (down 8.7 percent) all fell year-over-year in 2025.
But the biggest historical drop? Murder, which saw a decrease of 19.8 percent in just a year — something the country has not seen before in such a short period of time.
(A few small caveats, per Axios: “The database, which Asher used in his analysis, does not consider manslaughter, self-defense, negligence, or ‘accidental killings’ for the statistics.”)
While the Trump administration continues to chip away at the economic issues left for him by his predecessor, it’s a clear feather in the cap of the administration to see such immediate results when it comes to combating crime.
Just ask the Department of Homeland Security:
Here at DHS we’ve been operating by this radical idea that removing murderers from our country would bring down the murder rate.
Who could have guessed it would work? https://t.co/SRbnLhSiQm
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) December 24, 2025
“Here at DHS we’ve been operating by this radical idea that removing murderers from our country would bring down the murder rate,” the agency posted to X on Christmas Eve.
And in taking a small victory lap, the post added: “Who could have guessed it would work?”
The victory lap appears to be an indirect response to swathes of civil liberty groups who had been wringing their hands over the administration’s tough-on-crime mentality.
Here’s the ACLU’s take on the matter: “A second Trump administration threatens to accelerate mass incarceration, further dehumanize people in our criminal legal system, engage in a death penalty ‘killing spree,’ and reverse many reforms gained over the last two decades.”
“Trump’s proposals are dangerous on two levels. First, with respect to the federal system, Trump will seek to double down on the failed policies of the past: encouraging brutal policing practices, pursuing extreme sentences, and expanding the use of the death penalty,” it added.
“Second, Trump’s racist and extremist rhetoric may embolden states that have previously embraced reform to return to failed crime policies, fueling mass incarceration and widening racial inequality.”
While that may resonate with some, most Americans will likely just be relieved to see crime rates plummet across the board.
Compare that concern to some of the responses to the above X post:
Oh, you silly people relying on good old-fashioned common sense. 😂
Btw ❤️it. Keep it coming. 🙏
— FedUpNYer (@MAGA_evenNY) December 24, 2025
Deporting criminals reduces crime????? pic.twitter.com/6slLH9b3O6
— Russell Ziske (@RussellZiske) December 24, 2025
Keep going 💪🇺🇲
— Dodge Addiction (@Dodge_Addiction) December 24, 2025
Is the Trump administration’s approach to criminality controversial? Clearly.
But is that approach producing results? Clearly.
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