NEW YORK: The White House is comparing the low murder rate in New Delhi to the high rate in Chicago as it builds its case for federal intervention in that city. US President Donald Trump’s Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said that the Illinois city’s murder rate was 15 times higher than the Indian capital’s in 2024.
Chicago’s homicide rate was 25.5 per 100, 000 residents according to city statistics, while Delhi’s was 1.48.
Earlier, to justify President Trump deploying the National Guard troops and federal law enforcement personnel in Washington the White House posted a chart showing the murder rates in 11 capitals around the world in 2024.
That ranked Delhi’s murder rate at the ninth spot, with only London and Madrid ahead of it, while Washington topped the chart with 27.64 homicides.
Islamabad ranked the fourth worst with a rate of 9.2 per 100, 000 residents.
Having deployed the National Guard in Washington, Chicago is his next target.
"Chicago is a mess” and Chicagoans were “screaming” for help, President Trump said last week.
"So, I think Chicago will be our next federal deployment, and then we'll help with New York”, he said.
The National Guard can be broadly compared to the Territorial Army, except it is organised on the basis of states and both the federal and state governments share control over them. They can be deployed in combat overseas as it happened in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The US Constitution or laws don’t have provisions for President’s Rule or federal intervention in states, and his plans have met stiff opposition from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and federal troops' deployment will likely face court challenges.