Trump has ordered federal officials to release each week statistics of crimes committed by undocumented people in the country. | Getty De Blasio: Trump 'scapegoating' on immigration could backfire

Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Wednesday that he strongly opposes President Donald Trump’s plan to create an office for victims of crimes committed by undocumented residents, but said Trump’s plan to release statistics about the frequency of those crimes could backfire on the White House.

“Clearly this is an act of scapegoating by the president. He is attempting to demonize immigrants,” de Blasio told reporters in Queens this afternoon, where he discussed recent crimes figures. “Look at how few undocumented people commit any serious crime here in New York City, even though there is a half-million undocumented folks here. This is very clearly an effort by the president to create alarm, to create a negative impression of immigrants because it serves his political purposes.”


During his address to a joint session of Congress last night, Trump said he would create an office of Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement. Trump also ordered federal officials to release each week statistics of crimes committed by undocumented people in the country.

De Blasio said very few undocumented residents in New York commit serious crimes. When asked if releasing these statistics would undermine Trump’s argument, the mayor replied, “I think that’s a good point.”

“I think it would be very good for us to do more to show the actual numbers," he added. "I think it would be surprising to people in this city and beyond how few crimes are committed by undocumented folks.”

De Blasio — a progressive Democrat who has focused his re-election campaign on his ability to battle Trump — said “the national debate has been a fact-free zone."

"I think it’s very important and it’s incumbent on us to show the facts to really turn the tables on this discussion," he said.

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito also said she opposes Trump’s plan to create VOICE, but, unlike de Blasio, did not see any merit in releasing the crime statistics.

“Do you believe anything that is coming out of this administration? I don’t,” Mark-Viverito said in a brief interview. “They want to make this point, and they want to be proven so right that they will twist information and data, make up shit left and right in order to accommodate that point of view.”

She also said Trump’s plan was “beyond insane and outrageous,” and would “potentially” make New York City less safe, by fostering animosity toward immigrants and upending a crime-fighting formula that has been effective in reducing crime.

“New York is successful. We have a solid economy, we have jobs that are being produced, we have low record crimes rates,” she said. “We are demonstrating that we succeed when we embrace our immigrant communities. … For them to try to come in now, amid all that success, to enforce upon us these policies is potentially making [this a] much less, safe city. That’s the truth. And that’s all on him. That is not on us. That’s all on him.”

A spokesperson for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.