At the first of August, The White House tweeted out that Democrats had been running the city of Baltimore for 5 decades and the result was that they had a murder rate higher than that of Honduras, El Salvador, or Guatemala, countries from which many are trying to leave and cross our borders.
“The murder rate in Baltimore is higher than that of Honduras, El Salvador, or Guatemala—the three Central American nations driving our border surge. Democrats have run Baltimore for 5 decades. It’s time for accountability,” the White House tweeted.
The murder rate in Baltimore is higher than that of Honduras, El Salvador, or Guatemala—the three Central American nations driving our border surge.
Democrats have run Baltimore for 5 decades. It's time for accountability.
Today's news: https://t.co/xb9E3Be3a3 pic.twitter.com/tDq50ExvWm
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 1, 2019
That’s not all.
Trump told reporters the same thing.
However, according to WJZ 13, a local CBS affiliate in Baltimore, they discovered that the tweet and President Trump were exactly right.
Here’s what they discovered:
THE CLAIM:
The White House tweet links to its West Wing Reads blog. The claim in question comes from the Washington Examiner, which reportedly got its data from right-leaning Princeton Policy Advisors.
The Examiner article listed Baltimore’s murder rate at 56 per 100,000 residents compared to El Salvador’s 50, Guatemala’s 22 and Honduras’ 38.
THE CHECK:
WJZ reviewed data from 2018, the last full year for which data is available.
Data from the U.S. State Department’s Overseas Security Advisory Council lists El Salvador’s murder rate at 50 per 100,000 residents in 2018.
The council’s report listed Guatemala’s 2018 murder rate at 22 per 100,000.
Honduras’ 2018 murder rate was not included in OSAC’s annual crime and safety report published in April, but a report from the Observatory of Violence at the National Autonomous University of Honduras gave a figure of 41.4 murders per 100,000 residents.
HOW DOES BALTIMORE COMPARE?
Charm City ended 2018 with a total of 309 murders, according to the Baltimore Police Department. So far in 2019, police report 196 homicides have occurred.
Using the U.S. Census Bureau’s July 2018 population estimate for the city of 602,495, Baltimore’s 2018 murder rate is 51.3 murders per 100,000 residents.
CLAIM: TRUE
Clearly, outlets like Snopes, self-appointed fact-checkers and tired CNN veterans who are now paid propagandists for Facebook (you know who you are Duuuukie) are probably losing their collective minds over these facts.
***
Nevertheless, they are facts, and facts are stubborn things.
Chalk another one up for President Trump.
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