evidence: Despite the falling crime numbers, Trump and his supporters are making violent crime a major issue in the 2024 presidential election, conflating it with the migrant crisis at the southern border. They have seized on the slaying of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Hope Riley, who was attacked and killed while jogging in a park at the University of Georgia on Feb. 22 allegedly by a migrant from Venezuela authorities said illegally entered the country in 2022. [...] But while cities with traditionally high crime levels like New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia saw homicides decline by 12% to 21%, other cities saw sharp increases in slayings in 2023 compared to 2022. Homicides went up 24% in Memphis, 27% in Washington, D.C., 15% in Dallas and 14% in Kansas City. [...] According to historical data from the Major Cities Chiefs Association, homicides and aggravated assaults nationwide are up 17% and 14% respectively from 2019.