Crime and Public Safety Statistics

CBS News examined several key assertions from President Trump’s 2026 State of the Union, confirming that preliminary data support his claim that the 2025 murder rate may have seen the largest recorded annual decline in U.S. history, likely dropping to about 4 homicides per 100,000 people—a low not seen in roughly 125 years, though official FBI data are still pending. The network rated as only partially true Trump’s statement that “in the past nine months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted,” noting that while Border Patrol reports essentially no releases at the southern border during that period, some migrants who crossed illegally may have been released later by ICE and an unknown number of “got‑aways” are never counted. CBS also labeled as misleading his boast that more Americans are working than ever, explaining that while the raw number of employed people has hit a record 158.6 million, that largely reflects population growth and the labor‑force participation rate is flat compared with late 2024. Social‑science researchers cited in the piece stress that the causes of the sharp homicide decline remain uncertain, and labor economists point out that headline employment records can hide a softer underlying job market, context that undercuts the speech’s triumphal tone. The fact‑check underscores how the administration is selectively leaning on favorable topline numbers while omitting caveats about methodology, population growth, and continued unlawful border crossings that still total thousands per month.