With less representatives and a stretched budget plan, the FBI under its director, Kash Patel, has actually brought thousands less criminal cases than previous administrations, an MS NOW evaluation of Justice Department information programs. The findings rebut Patel’s duplicated claims that he has actually led a crackdown on violent criminal offense.
Patel has actually boasted that the FBI has actually apprehended 54,000 violent wrongdoers, which he refers to as a 90% boost in arrests from the very same duration in the Biden administration. What he does not point out is that his count is pumped up by consisting of arrests that specify and regional police and other federal firms have actually made when an FBI worker exists.
A number of those arrests are not FBI cases, the FBI acknowledges.
In truth, the FBI has actually referred 15% less criminal cases for federal prosecution throughout the 2nd Trump administration than throughout the exact same duration in the Biden administration. And, while the FBI does not break down its criminal recommendations into kinds of cases, the information likewise reveals that the DOJ prosecuted 15% less cases of violent criminal offenses throughout the very first 16 months of the Trump administration than throughout the very same duration of the Biden administration.
There were almost 3,800 less individuals charged federally with violent criminal offenses throughout the very first part of the 2nd Trump administration than throughout the equivalent Biden duration– the reverse of what Patel states. That figure consists of cases referred from all federal companies, not simply the FBI.
MS NOW evaluated public DOJ information gotten and shared by Justice Connectiona group of previous DOJ and FBI staff members who have actually implicated the Trump administration of weaponizing the department and breaking long-revered standards to pursue President Donald Trump’s political ends. The information covers all criminal cases with a filing date taped for a U.S. district court.
The most significant top priorities shift in the 2nd Trump administration has actually been a substantial boost in arrests and charges associated with migration criminal activities. Patel has actually needed FBI representatives to support migration enforcement, which has actually typically not become part of their objective.
According to the general public DOJ information, migration cases made up a tremendous 59.3% of all federal criminal cases submitted by the DOJ from February 2025 through July 2026– compared to 41.1% over a comparable duration in the very first Trump administration and 35.5% over a comparable duration in the Biden administration.
“Kash Patel is actively taking apart years of analytical stability simply to feed a political story,” stated Christopher O’Leary, a previous senior FBI authorities and MS NOW factor.
“We are seeing a historical organization lowered to a metrics video game, where the FBI is poaching credit for arrests made by other police and departments. This synthetic inflation of the statistics is a purposeful smoke screen created to mask internal turmoil and the mass exodus of knowledgeable skill by producing an impression of performance that just does not exist on the ground,” he stated.
Patel’s FBI is not simply bringing less criminal cases than under previous President Joe Biden– it’s likewise bringing less than it did under the very first Trump term, the MS NOW evaluation of DOJ information programs. The FBI has actually made less criminal recommendations up until now under Patel than throughout the very same duration of the very first Trump administration, when Christopher Wray was FBI director, according to DOJ figures.
In a declaration to MS NOW, the FBI did not challenge the information revealing a decrease in criminal recommendations, however it indicated the decreasing rate of violent criminal activity. That decrease has actually been an across the country pattern for numerous years after criminal activity briefly surged throughout the Covid-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022. It’s been gradually decreasing since.
“This FBI and our police partners provided the biggest year of violent criminal offense decrease in American history, attained the most considerable drop in the nationwide murder rate ever taped given that 1936,” the FBI stated in a declaration.
Patel’s claim of a 90% boost in “violent criminal offense arrests” by the FBI excludes essential context: that Patel is taking credit for the work of other companies.
By Patel freshly consisting of state and regional arrests, along with arrests by other federal firms, his FBI development report significantly alters the method the FBI counts its cases to consist of work the FBI did refrain from doing.
The FBI has actually not formerly counted other firm arrests as part of its caseload, according to internal DOJ information and the accounts of present and previous authorities. There is no chance to state the number of the regional cops arrests– which Patel now declares credit for– would have been made despite the FBI’s existence.
In its declaration to MS NOW, the FBI contested that it altered how it tallies arrests, stating it has actually constantly consisted of “violent criminal activity arrests where the FBI has equity in the event and examination.”
That is incorrect, numerous previous FBI authorities informed MS NOW.
Previous FBI representative Daniel Brunner stated the FBI formerly constantly withstood counting state and regional arrests as FBI accomplishments.
“It’s never ever been done,” he stated. “And when representatives tried to do it, it was constantly pressed back on at the regional department. Head office did not desire incorrect numbers, they desired the reality from the field.”
Brunner stated the FBI would keep different statistics on how typically representatives helped regional police however didn’t count those as FBI operations.
Patel’s FBI is various.
When the FBI in September revealed the outcomes of “Operation Summer Heat” in Louisiana, authorities stated the FBI partnered with more than 2 lots regional, state, and federal police to jail 662 people. The release did not state which, if any, were FBI arrests.
The FBI plays an extremely bit part in policing violent criminal activity across the country, and has actually concentrated on examining significant criminal networks and complicated conspiracies, along with dangers to nationwide security. There are around 13,000 FBI representatives, compared to around 788,000 sworn police officers throughout the nation. Even that variation underplays the little function the FBI plays in policing violence, since many FBI representatives do not work full-time on violent criminal offense cases. Murder, rape, break-in and other criminal violence are mostly a matter for state and regional police, utilizing state laws and state courts.
Given that the 9/11 attacks, the FBI’s concern objective has actually been stopping terrorism. The bureau is likewise committed to searching foreign spies, hunting down political corruption and clerical scams, and interfering with intricate criminal plans and arranged criminal activity.
Federal information reveals the FBI has actually suffered a significant decrease in its labor force because Trump came into workplace and set up Patel as the company’s director. The bureau has actually lost more than 1,600 criminal private investigators and 335 experts considering that January 2025. The majority of them have actually not been changed, existing and previous FBI authorities state. And the FBI’s budget plan has actually not stayed up to date with inflation.
And trusted, Patel’s count of the FBI making or taking part in 54,000 arrests diminishes in significance when taken into wider context. There have actually been 11.3 million arrests across the country considering that January 2025, according to the exact same FBI information.
“You’re speaking about a drop in the pail,” stated Jeff Asher, a previous CIA expert who studies criminal offense statistics. “Federal job forces can be extremely helpful, however as causal elements they tend not to be statistically substantial.”
John Roman, a professional on criminal offense patterns at the University of Chicago, stated Patel’s brand-new technique of taking credit for regional arrests when the FBI exists most likely shows the remarkable shift in FBI top priorities under this administration. Stepped up migration raids, with FBI support, will definitely cause more regional arrests with FBI in tow, Roman stated. It does not always guarantee the finest usage of FBI resources or make Americans more secure.
“The concern is: are we truly getting bad individuals off the streets and hindering criminal activity by others?” Roman asked.
The FBI’s Rapid Response account on X put out a slickly produced video recently, depicting Patel as having actually upgraded the FBI’s method, to fantastic impact. After professionals stated the video broke the law versus federal government involvement in politics due to the fact that it disparaged Democrats, the FBI took it downA representative did not react to concerns about why.
“Patel’s FBI made squashing violent criminal offense the objective,” the storyteller in the video states. “It moved more than one thousand positions out of Washington and into the field, taking apart gangs, choking off fentanyl, and taking violent culprits off the street.
“And it worked. Because Patel took charge in February 2025, about fifty-four thousand violent criminal activity arrests, up approximately ninety percent; more than thirty-one thousand gangs interrupted; over 3 thousand 2 hundred kgs of fentanyl took.
“That’s a crime-first FBI under Director Patel.”
Existing and previous FBI authorities state these claims are deeply deceptive.
“He’s taking credit for other firms’ efforts,” stated Michael Feinberg, a previous FBI representative and MS NOW factor. “The huge bulk of violent criminal offense are state and regional offenses.”
The FBI can bring an innovative technique to violent criminal activity gangs by utilizing federal racketeering statutes, Feinberg stated, however there is no proof of any boost because method under Patel. The information reveals that less federal criminal activities are being prosecuted.
The FBI did not resolve this claim however stated, “We are putting a more powerful focus on interagency coordination than we ever have, with rises in crucial locations like Washington D.C., Memphis TN, and more providing successes to get violent criminal offense under control. As an outcome, Memphis reported a 50% reduction in murders this summer season, and Washington D.C. is on track for its least expensive murder numbers given that 1990.”
The most significant shift of police resources in the 2nd Trump Administration has actually not been towards violent criminal offense, however towards migration enforcement and prosecutions.
Some noteworthy– and deceptive or incorrect– declares about criminal activity and enforcement Patel has actually made in public looks:
- “1.1 million less violent” criminal offenses: on Oct. 2, Patel informed Fox News that there were “1.1 million less” violent attacks, rapes, burglaries and murders. 1,119,768 was the whole approximated 2025 violent criminal offense overalland the FBI states the year-over-year decrease was 9.3%. He appears to have actually puzzled the overall with the decrease.
- “197% boost” from 34,000 to 67,000 arrests: In February, Patel made a fundamental mathematics mistake in an op-ed under his own bylineThe boost is 97.1%; 67,000 is 197% of 34,000.
- “Rape, break-in, attack, all down double-digits”: Patel stated this in August, however 2 of the 3 called classifications were not down double digits. The FBI’s own release– which included Patel’s quote in a video — put break-in down 18.5%, however rape down 7.6% and intensified attack down 7.2%; total violent criminal offense was down 9.3%.
- The Massachusetts Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweep: Patel stated in May 2025 the FBI had actually signed up with ICE to assemble “370 violent and unsafe fugitives.” ICE’s own description was 370 alien wrongdoers; it stated 205 had “substantial criminal convictions or charges.”
- Operation Restore Justice”: On May 7, 2025, Patel stated the operation lasted a month, included 450 warrants, and assembled almost 400 kid predators. DOJ’s same-day release states the called operation lasted 5 days and produced 205 arrests
In its reaction to MS NOW, the FBI did not resolve any of these examples.
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