'Is this another lie?' Rep Nancy Mace faces backlash as she claims crime has surged under President Joe Biden

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA: Rep Nancy Mace (R-SC) stirred controversy on Saturday, March 30, with her assertion that crime had surged under President Joe Biden's administration.

Mace's statement, however, faced swift scrutiny and fact-checking, raising questions about the accuracy of her claims.

Mace's Assertion and Conservative Rhetoric

In a video statement shared on X, Mace said, "You're seeing, since President Joe Biden took office, crime skyrocket all around the country. It's not okay, we're a nation of laws, we should follow them."

She echoed conservative rhetoric on "law and order" while linking immigration policies to crime, particularly noting the spread of fentanyl and violence, per Raw Story.

However, Mace's claims were quickly challenged by various sources. The libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute, claimed that the fentanyl crisis predominantly stems from drugs smuggled and funded by US citizens.

Additionally, a recent report from The Washington Post indicated "little evidence" linking undocumented immigrants to increased crime rates.

House Republicans, however, have raised concerns about the reliability of studies that purport to assess the crime rate among illegal aliens. They argue that such studies are often flawed due to the lack of comprehensive data collection on criminals' immigration status in many jurisdictions.

Despite these challenges, some data does suggest higher crime rates among illegal aliens compared to American citizens.

Publicly available data from border states and regions with significant illegal alien populations, as published by the federal State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), shows that “illegal aliens are incarcerated at a much higher rate than citizens and lawfully-present aliens,” and “illegal aliens are typically at least three times as likely to be incarcerated than citizens and lawfully-present aliens.”

Fact-Checking and Contrasting Narratives

Regardless, journalist Aaron Rupar highlighted the absence of statistical evidence in Mace's statement, dubbing her a "liar." "Nancy, I noticed you didn’t cite a single statistic in your little video," he wrote. "That’s because you’re a liar."

He referenced a New York Times article revealing a decline in homicides after a spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting a contrasting narrative to Mace's claims.

"As 2023 comes to a close, the country is likely to see one of the largest — if not the largest — yearly declines in homicides, according to recent FBI data and statistics collected by independent criminologists and researchers," the report states.

"Among nine violent and property crime categories tracked by the FBI, the only figure that is up over the first three quarters of this year is motor vehicle theft."

Democratic strategist Sawyer Hackett echoed Rupar's sentiments, claiming, "Crime in all categories — violent, property, murder — is down significantly nationwide."

Social Media Backlash

Several left-leaning social media users also voiced skepticism towards Mace's claims.

"Funny seeing as crime has actually gone DOWN since Biden took office," one posted on X.

"Are you ignoring FBI statistics? Can you show me a graph where crime has increased Nancy or is this another lie?" another wrote.

"Crime is lower now than it was at any point in Trump's tenure," someone else claimed.

"Lying during Holy Week can’t be winning you any points with Jesus," another quipped.

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