Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, went on Fox News on Monday evening to justify President Donald Trump’s use of federal law enforcement by depicting Chicago and Washington, D.C., as murderous cities.
Invoking the same language that Trump used to describe Chicago, Miller called the Illinois city a “bloody killing field.”
“Killing field” is generally used to reference the site of the Cambodian Genocide, in which 1.3 million people were murdered and buried, though it is not clear if Miller intended to make such a reference.
“Look at Chicago, they’ve shut down the police department, they’ve handcuffed law enforcement, and as President Trump says, they have turned the streets of Chicago into a bloody killing field,” Miller said on Hannity.
The striking characterization served as the basis for Miller to justify Trump’s recent comments in which he threatened to send in federal law enforcement to control crime in Chicago.
Chicago crime statistics show that homicides decreased by 7.3 percent in 2024 compared to 2023, with the city experiencing fewer than 600 murders for the first time in five years. Non-fatal shootings declined 3.7 percent between 2024 and 2023.
Overall, violent crime is down 21.6 percent so far this year, the mayor’s office said.
The Independent has asked the White House and Miller for comment.
Despite the city’s statistics, Miller asserted that federal intervention is necessary in Chicago and blamed the Democratic Party – which he called a “domestic extremist organization – for allowing crime to spin out of control.
Miller continued, describing D.C. as a city of chaos with rampant crime and fearful residents before Trump sent in federal law enforcement.
“There was a murder on the streets of this town every other day,” Miller claimed. “Body after body after body after body. That was Washington, D.C. Residents were afraid to go to restaurants. They were afraid to go into entire neighborhoods. They were getting carjacked, right and left. Robbed and beaten.”
Federal crime statistics indicate that violent crime nationwide is trending downward. Crime stats from the Metropolitan Police Department in D.C. show the city experienced a three-decade low of violent crime in 2024. Those rates have continued to decline.
Democrats have criticized Trump’s decision to send the National Guard into D.C. and the president’s threat to do so to other states.
After Trump threatened to federalize Illinois’s National Guard to send them into Chicago last week, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker told Trump to keep the forces out of the city, saying, “You are neither wanted here nor needed here.”
On Hannity, Miller pushed back on Democratic leaders who are ungrateful for Trump’s help, saying the president’s use of federal law enforcement is helpful.
