Patel, Bongino Lead Historic Drop In U.S. Murder Rates
FBI Director Kash Patel said Monday that the U.S. is on pace to record its lowest murder rate in modern history, as the president moved to deploy the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and take control of the city’s police force.
“And the murder rates are plummeting. We are now able to report that the murder rate is on track to be the lowest in US history, in modern reported US history, thanks to this team behind me and President Trump’s priorities,” Patel said during a press conference.
“This year alone, under President Trump’s administration, we’ve had over 4,000 child victims identified and found that’s a 33% increase from the same time period last year, 33% increase,” he added. “We’ve had a seizure of 1500 kilograms of fentanyl up to this date, that is a 25% increase since the same time period last year.
“And just to put it in perspective, 1500 kilograms of fentanyl is enough to kill 115 million Americans,” he said.
“Cops are getting after it. The FBI has arrested 19,000 people this year alone, thanks to President Trump’s administration. That’s double than where we were this time last year,” Patel continued. “And we have also arrested 1,600 people who have committed violent acts against children. 270 of them are human traffickers of children.”
In an X post this week, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino echoed his boss, noting that Trump’s focus on crime is paying early dividends.
“The President’s pledge to clean up the streets is producing real results. This is just the start. More updates coming,” he wrote.
Patel added at his press conference: “Mr. President, this is what happens when you have great leadership– the Attorney General with Pam Bondi, your administration’s priority of protecting the homeland and protecting American citizens and protecting our children.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney Lesley A. Woods announced on Wednesday that five individuals have been charged by complaint with multiple federal offenses stemming from an alleged conspiracy involving labor trafficking, sex trafficking, and harboring undocumented immigrants at several hotels in the Omaha metro area and central Nebraska.
The defendants are accused of owning, operating, and managing multiple hotel properties in the Omaha metro area, where federal search warrants were executed during the early morning hours of August 12, 2025, said a Justice Department press release.
During the operation, authorities rescued 10 minors from an alleged labor trafficking scheme in which children under the age of twelve were forced to work long hours at the hotels for little or no pay. Seventeen adult victims were also freed from the same conspiracy.
According to the complaint affidavit, the victims endured exploitative conditions and were required to pay the defendants for lodging at the hotels, despite the accommodations being filthy, unsafe, and unsanitary.
Online reviews for the properties include firsthand accounts from travelers who briefly stayed at the same locations. In one instance, a federal source entered a hotel room and found immigrant victims sleeping on the floor as cockroaches crawled over them while they slept, the DOJ said.
Separately, the U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges that one or more of the defendants participated in a sex trafficking conspiracy that targeted both minors and adults.
According to the complaint affidavit, sex trafficking was not only permitted at the hotels but actively encouraged and shielded from law enforcement detection. Victims were exploited not only by the typical perpetrators of a sex trafficking operation but also by hotel management and employees themselves.
“There is no evil greater than the evil that seeks to trap, oppress, and exploit human beings for profit or pleasure,” Woods said in a post-arrest statement.
“Where that evil exists, Nebraska law enforcement working together at the federal, state, and local levels, as occurred in this case, will seek it, find it, root it out, and ensure every rescued victim has an opportunity to obtain justice and freedom from their captors,” she added.
