President Donald Trump has often pointed to attacks in Europe, a relatively easier destination for terror groups centered in the Middle East, as proof that his national security policies. | Alex Wong/Getty Image
President Donald Trump declared Friday morning that “we must keep America safe,” pointing to a study released Friday in Great Britain showing an uptick in terrorism-related incidents amid an overall 13 percent increase in crime.
“Just out report: ‘United Kingdom crime rises 13% annually amid spread of Radical Islamic terror.’ Not good, we must keep America safe!” Trump wrote online.
The president did not specify to which report he was referring, but a report from Britain’s Office of National Statistics outlined Friday by the Daily Mail matched the details Trump shared in his post to Twitter. The report shows a 13 percent overall increase in crime in England and Wales and a 59 percent increase in murder offenses.
The Daily Mail noted, though, that the report’s murder statistics had been spiked by terrorist attacks in London and Manchester as well as by the manslaughter charges brought linked to the Hillsborough Disaster, a 1989 overcrowding case at a soccer stadium that led to people being crushed and left 96 people dead. With those events excluded, the number of murders still climbed, albeit more modestly.
Trump has often pointed to attacks in Europe, a relatively easier destination for terror groups centered in the Middle East, as proof that his national security policies, including a travel ban on individuals from certain nations, are necessary.
