debut: 2/16/17
40,136 runs
Vance uses TT as high crimebarometer to defend DC crackdown
Vice President JD Vance has used Trinidad and Tobago as an example of high crime while defending President Donald Trump’s security crackdown in Washington, D.C.Vance was booed by protesters as he greeted National Guard troops at Union Station alongside Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. He said crime statistics were “massively underreported” and described the city as overrun by “drug addicts,” “vagrants,” and the “chronically homeless.” Protesters chanted “shame” and “we want the military out of our streets.”
“You hear these guys outside, they appear to hate the idea that Americans can enjoy their communities, and they do the fact that DC a week ago had a higher murder rate than Trinidad and Tobago, which the United States State Department has said you shouldn’t visit because it’s unsafe. We ought to be able to enjoy great American cities. That’s what we’re trying to do in the Trump administration,” Vance said.
Local media reported homicides in Washington DC decreased in 2025. Through August 11 2025, police reported 99 homicides, compared to 112 in the same period of 2024, representing a decline.
For the year 2025 , Trinidad and Tobago recorded 235 murders by this date. At the same time in 2024, the country had recorded 400 murders, also a decline.
Vice President JD Vance has used Trinidad and Tobago as an example of high crime while defending President Donald Trump’s security crackdown in Washington, D.C.Vance was booed by protesters as he greeted National Guard troops at Union Station alongside Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. He said crime statistics were “massively underreported” and described the city as overrun by “drug addicts,” “vagrants,” and the “chronically homeless.” Protesters chanted “shame” and “we want the military out of our streets.”
“You hear these guys outside, they appear to hate the idea that Americans can enjoy their communities, and they do the fact that DC a week ago had a higher murder rate than Trinidad and Tobago, which the United States State Department has said you shouldn’t visit because it’s unsafe. We ought to be able to enjoy great American cities. That’s what we’re trying to do in the Trump administration,” Vance said.
Local media reported homicides in Washington DC decreased in 2025. Through August 11 2025, police reported 99 homicides, compared to 112 in the same period of 2024, representing a decline.
For the year 2025 , Trinidad and Tobago recorded 235 murders by this date. At the same time in 2024, the country had recorded 400 murders, also a decline.
