Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is trying to convince people he is doing a good job on crime to defend his pro-criminal policies.
Johnson was one of a handful of sanctuary city mayors dragged in front of Congress, where he boasted that not deporting criminal illegal immigrants makes Chicago safer. “Violent crime in the city of Chicago is down,” Johnson said. “It continues to go down under my leadership.”
Johnson is technically correct that violent crime in Chicago has decreased in the past year. But a look at the numbers shows just how misleading this presentation is. In 2023, Johnson’s first year as mayor, Chicago saw its most violent crimes since 2011. That number ticked down the following year, but 2024 still had more violent crime than any pre-Johnson year since 2017. Johnson’s two years on the job are the most violent two-year stretch in Chicago since 2011 and 2012. Chicago has been more violent under Johnson than it was during the crime surge in 2020 that followed COVID lockdowns and Black Lives Matter riots.
Chicago has also set some violent crime records under Johnson despite his celebrations. Aggravated assaults hit a 20-year high in 2024, and aggravated batteries increased by 3.1%, the largest increase of any violent crime. The drop in violent crime has been driven by a drop in robberies, which is good news, sure, but Chicago still had more robberies in 2024 than any pre-Johnson year since 2018.
On top of this all, both years of Johnson’s tenure have had more violent crimes without arrests since 2010.
What’s more, Johnson is trying to mislead people on behalf of Chicago’s sanctuary city policies by creating a connection that doesn’t exist. To hear Johnson tell it, promising not to deport any illegal immigrants means illegal immigrants will report crimes without being afraid of the police. Somehow, that fact alone is what Johnson is tying to this drop in violent crime, despite Chicago’s sanctuary status going back to 2012.
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Johnson is also not explaining why Chicago won’t help deport illegal immigrants who commit crimes in the city. Why does Chicago need to protect illegal immigrants who commit battery, for example, from being deported to get otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants to feel comfortable reporting crimes?
Not only is Johnson misrepresenting the state of crime in Chicago to make himself seem far more competent than he could ever be, but he is doing so to justify Chicago protecting criminal illegal immigrants from deportation. Releasing criminal illegal immigrants to the streets before federal agents can detain them is not making anyone in Chicago safer.