Crime and citizenship

Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

Recently, President Trump has been accused by those on the left of overreaching the powers of the executive branch of government.  Compared to the inaction by his predecessor, this claim may be partially true.  However, this is the equivalent of seeing a baby walking into traffic and doing nothing to save the child from being hit by a car when you can prevent it from happening.  It is a fact that crime is out of control in Washington, D. C. and this sentiment is echoed by the head of the Washington D.C. police union chief.

On August 11,2025, the White House put out the following statistics regarding crime in Washington D.C.:

In 2024, Washington, D.C. saw a homicide rate of 27.3 per 100,000 residents.

That was the fourth-highest homicide rate in the country — nearly six times higher than New York City and also higher than Atlanta, Chicago, and Compton.

If Washington, D.C. were a state, it would have the highest homicide rate of any state in the nation.

In 2012, the homicide rate in Washington, D.C. was just 13.9 per 100,000 residents.

Washington, D.C.’s murder rate is roughly three times higher than that of Islamabad, Pakistan, and 18 times higher than that of communist-run Havana, Cuba.

The number of juveniles arrested in Washington, D.C., has gone up each year since 2020 — many of whom have had prior arrests for violent crimes.

There were 29,348 crimes reported in Washington, D.C. last year, including 3,469 violent offenses, 1,026 assaults with a dangerous weapon, 2,113 robberies, and 5,139 motor vehicle thefts.

So far in 2025, there have already been nearly 1,600 violent crimes and nearly 16,000 total crimes reported in Washington, D.C.

There have been nearly 100 homicides, including the fatal shootings of innocent civilians like three-year-old Honesty Cheadle and 21-year-old Capitol Hill intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym.

Vehicle theft in Washington, D.C. is more than three times the national average — ranking it among the most dangerous cities in the world.

Carjackings increased 547% between 2018 and 2023.

In 2024, there were triple the number of carjackings compared to 2018.

Despite these facts, legacy media and mayors selectively report that crime has decreased in Washington, D.C.  The manipulation of statistics doesn’t hide the fact that, unless you have a bodyguard, as many politicians do, it is not a safe place to walk the streets.  Owning up to this fact is unpleasant because it points to politicians who are woefully inadequate in doing their main job, which is protecting citizens.  Liberal judges refuse to punish criminals, and juvenile delinquency is a free pass to commit crimes because the teenagers are smart enough to know that if they are under 18, they won’t be punished.

When the president attempts to do something to solve the problem, leftists engage in denial and make claims that President Trump is overstepping his presidential authority.  They seem to prefer that murders, rapes and carjackings are preferable to solving the problem, which is largely a product of severe Trump Derangement Syndrome.

A second area where those on the left have been screaming about what they deem to be presidential overreach involves the United States Census.  They claim it is unconstitutional to only count citizens.  If took the time to read the Constitution and other documents pertaining to the census, they would realize that this is a very gray area that will likely end up being decided by the Supreme Court.

Democrats have made no secret that they want illegals counted in the census because it benefits them in terms of representation due to their nefarious gerrymandering practices that unfairly divide voting districts that legally rig elections in their favor.  They are up in arms about what is currently transpiring in Texas and the redistricting issue, but when confronted about their own dubious gerrymandered districts in states like New York and California, they dismiss these claims.

Article 1, Section 2 of the US Constitution mandates a census be taken every ten years.  At the time the Constitution was written, the census only counted “free people,” and “those bound by service” were only counted as three-fifths of all other persons.  This was known as the infamous three-fifths compromise, which was enacted to count slaves and appease the southern states.  The Fourteenth Amendment eliminated this practice; however, it illustrates that the founding fathers did identify circumstances of exceptions to who could be counted in the census, so it is reasonable to believe that they might have adopted provisions for citizenship as a requirement for being counted in the census.  This wasn’t an issue at the time, so it wasn’t considered.

Later legislation also attempted to clarify the lack of clarity in census calculations, which have a direct impact on congressional representation.  13 U.S. Code § 141 – Population and other census information has a series of provisions about the census, but it only uses the term “census of population,” which means it relates to population and housing, but still doesn’t address citizenship as a requirement to be counted.

However, let’s look at how the census looks at people who are incarcerated.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the “prison population” is listed under the category of “Group Quarters.”  Inmates, who are usually citizens, are counted in the census, but unless a person has spent the majority of the previous year incarcerated, the census adjusts for these prisoners and lists their “usual residence,” not their prison address.  Since the “usual address” of illegal aliens is their home country, should they be counted in the census calculations?

Tourists, business travelers and temporary visitors to the United States are not counted in census data, so why would we count those here illegally from other countries?    Does this mean that even if we consider those here illegally, do we need to determine if they are “temporary visitors” (which they would be if subjected to ICE deportations)?

What some view as usurpation of power versus simply putting Americans first will always be subjective.  This problem wouldn’t exist if the Biden Administration had not opened the floodgates with the bold intention of circumventing the electoral process in favor of the democratic party.  Their “Americans Last” policies put every citizen at risk of being a victim of crime and watering down the impact of their vote on election day, and it’s time these situations are corrected by an administration that actually does put America first.

Michael Matteo is an educator, produced playwright and screenwriter. He has written or co-written 4 books including one of the first jokebooks to make fun of political correctness.He owned a business for 19 years, and has been teaching for over 30 years.Currently he lives and works as head of the humanities department at private, international school in Chengdu, China.

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