Oakland homicides fall to 25-year low – how did it stem the violence?

Despite Trump's claims, California city has found success in lowering deadly violence, thanks to pioneering efforts to steer people down a different path

In the summer of 2025, as Donald Trump rolled out his plan to deploy the national guard to Washington DC and Chicago, he suggested other American cities were overrun with violence and could soon see federal troops: Memphis, Los Angeles, New York.

Oakland, the president argued, was beyond saving. And then you have, of course, Baltimore and Oakland. They're so far gone. We don't even talk about that any more," Trump said.