Trump, Harris trade criticism on crime during first presidential debate: ‘Through the roof’

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris traded blows over crime in the United States during the first presidential debate. Harris defended allegations that migrant crime has increased under her administration by pointing to Trump’s legal troubles.

“Yes, the number is much higher because of them,” Trump said during the debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, about crimes committed by illegal immigrants in the U.S., some of whom entered the country under Biden’s leadership.

“They let criminals in, many, many millions of criminals,” Trump continued, “They let terrorists in. They let ordinary street criminals in. They let people come in and drug dealers come into our country. And now in the United States and being told by their countries like Venezuela, don’t ever come back or we’re going to kill you. Do you know that the crime rate in Venezuela and in countries all over the world has gone down tremendously?”

Trump continued: “The crime rate here is sky high. Despite their fraudulent statements that they’ve made. The crime rate in this country is sky high. And we have a new type of crime. It’s called migrant crime. And it’s happening at levels that no one thought possible.”

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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (R) and former U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands during the second presidential debate at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, September 10, 2024. (Getty Images)

ABC’s David Muir interrupted this conversation to say that “the FBI says violent crime in this country is actually going down overall,” without mentioning that those statistics are lower than historical highs or that several major cities have not provided their data.

“They were fraudulent statements,” Trump responded. “They didn’t include the worst cities. They didn’t include the worst crime cities. It was fraud. Just like their number of 818,000 jobs that they said they created turned out to be fraud.”

Harris responded by bringing up Trump’s criminal convictions and pending charges.

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A new poll conducted by ABC News ahead of Tuesday’s presidential debate shows Vice President Kamala Harris leading former President Trump by eight percentage points among likely voters in Virginia. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images.)

“Well, I think that’s quite a rich statement coming from someone who’s been prosecuted for national security crimes, economic crimes, election interference, and now has been found guilty of sexual assault,” Harris said.

“And his next big trial is in November at his own sentencing hearing. And let’s be clear about where each person stands on the issue of what is important about respect for the rule of law and respect for law enforcement.”

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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (R) and former U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands during the second presidential debate at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday, September 10, 2024. (Getty Images)

Harris continued: “The former vice president called for a defunding of federal law enforcement. 45,000 law enforcement officers are getting that the day after he was indicted on 34 felonies. So let’s talk about what’s important in this race.”

“It’s important that we move forward, that we put an end to this tired old rhetoric and that we focus on the needs of the American people. We need to focus on what we need to do about the housing shortage, which I have a plan for. We need to focus on what we need to do to support our small businesses, and we need to lower the price of groceries.”