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Senator cites border encounters and nationwide crime declines in questioning
Summary
A senator cited large-scale border encounter figures and declines in violent crime and overdoses while arguing that DOJ refocused enforcement has improved public safety; Mister Blanch repeatedly affirmed the factual claims presented in the transcript.
The senator presented multiple quantitative claims about border encounters, crime trends and drug overdoses while questioning Mister Blanch. He said there were roughly 12,000,000 encounters at the southern border and approximately 2,000,000 "gotaways" who entered without apprehension; Mister Blanch responded affirmatively when asked.
On crime trends, the senator said 2025 saw the largest one-year drop in violent crime and murder since 1937, with homicides across the nation's largest cities falling more than 19%, robberies down nearly 20% and aggravated assaults down nearly 10%, and that those trends continued into early 2026. He also credited the department's work with a roughly 20% drop in drug overdose deaths.
Mister Blanch repeatedly answered "Yes" or equivalent confirmations to the senator's numerical statements. The transcript records assertions and witness confirmations but does not include source documents or methodological details for the statistics cited; those figures should be verified against official crime and public-health datasets to confirm scope and definitions.
