Former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), took their “Make America Safe Again” message to police departments in two battleground states on Aug. 20, pledging to improve circumstances for police officers.
The Republican candidates’ appearances are part of their campaign strategy while Democrats gather at their own nominating convention in Chicago.
During his speech at the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office in Howell, Michigan, Trump said: “When I’m president of the United States again, we will never even think about or mention the words, ‘defund the police.’”
Instead, officials need to “re-fund” the police, he said, and also should grant officers greater protection against lawsuits and prosecutions that they may unfairly face “for doing their jobs,” Trump said.
“Under my leadership, no community will be surrendered to violent criminals; no citizen will be abandoned to migrant crime.”
Record numbers of illegal immigrants have been entering the United States since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took office in 2021. Some have been arrested and charged for high-profile violent crimes in recent months.
While Biden has blamed Congress for inaction on a bipartisan border bill, Trump counters that, during his presidency, he issued executive orders to close the border and take other actions to clamp down on illegal immigration.
Vance in Wisconsin
Earlier on Tuesday, Vance spoke in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
“We don’t just have a vision on the Trump campaign. We don’t just have a bunch of promises on the Trump campaign. We have got four years of Donald Trump’s successful leadership that brought public safety to our streets, and that is something to celebrate and look forward to,” Vance said.
His audience was also filled with law enforcement officers.
Vance said that, if he and Trump are elected, they will end “sanctuary cities” that shield illegal immigrants from federal immigration authorities, deport violent illegal aliens, and protect police from “frivolous lawsuits.”
“The reason that it’s so hard for the police to do their job, sometimes, is they know: If they do their job, they’re going to get sued for it,” Vance said.
Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) greets a police officer before a campaign rally in Kenosha, Wis., on Aug. 20, 2024. Andy Manis/Getty Images
Crime Data Questioned
While the Democratic National Committee’s policy platform touted a 50-year low in violent crime, Trump and his campaign say more reliable data suggest that’s not the case.
After Harris and Biden took office, “the FBI ditched the crime data reporting system used for more than 100 years for a ‘modernized’ system that many of the nation’s largest police departments ... aren’t using,” the Trump campaign said in an emailed statement. “There’s not less crime; there’s just less *reporting of crime.*
Trump suggested crime data are skewed because police are arresting fewer people while they lack support, are understaffed, and want to avoid legal peril.
The National Crime Prevention Research Center says FBI statistics are inaccurate because “victims don’t report most crimes.” The National Crime Victimization Survey provides more accurate insights, the center said, adding that the report shows reported and nonreported violent crimes went up 42 percent between 2020 and 2022, the most recent year available.
Trump, Vance Together
Trump and Vance will appear together in Asheboro, North Carolina, on Aug. 21 to highlight their plans to “Make America Strong Again.”
On Aug. 22, Trump will travel to the U.S.-Mexico border in Montezuma Pass, Arizona, while Vance will travel to Valdosta, Georgia, to talk about improving immigration policies to “Make America Secure Again.”
On Aug. 23, Trump will hold a rally in Glendale, Arizona, and will also lead a “No Tax on Tips” session in Las Vegas as part of the Trump–Vance weeklong “barnstorming” tour of states that could help decide the Nov. 5 presidential election that pits them against the Democrats’ Harris–Walz ticket.
