(NewsNation) — Chicago recorded its fewest number of murders in 60 years, according to preliminary data, following a months-long campaign by President Donald Trump to bill the city as “the most dangerous city in the world.”
Last year, 416 murders occurred, a drop from 587 in 2024, and it’s the lowest it’s been since 1965, the Chicago Sun-Times first reported.
2025 saw a nearly 50% decrease compared to 2021 when murders totaled 805.
“We’re not patting ourselves on the back yet,” Mayor Brandon Johnson told the Sun-Times. “But we are certainly grateful for moving toward this positive trend.”
Chicago was one of the cities where President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard in October in his push to combat crime. He announced Wednesday he would remove the Guard from Chicago and other cities and took credit for the reduction in crime.
“We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again — Only a question of time!” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has had a heavy presence in Chicago as well as Trump cracks down on illegal immigration.