Steve Cortes, president of the League of American Workers, said that Democratic policies glorify criminals while leaving American citizens exposed and elites protected. This statement was made during an interview.
“This is the twisted inversion of justice under Democrat rule: the felon is the folk hero, the predator is the protégé, the rioter is the romantic,” said Cortes. “Meanwhile, ordinary Americans are left abandoned, unprotected, and lectured to by elites insulated from the carnage.”
In August 2025, Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, was fatally stabbed on a light-rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina. The alleged perpetrator, Decarlos Brown Jr., now faces a federal charge that could lead to life imprisonment or the death penalty. According to the Associated Press, this incident quickly became part of U.S. political debate, with discussions focusing on rising urban crime and public safety failures. Others highlighted mental health issues and transit security as contributing factors.
National crime statistics indicate improvement in 2024, continuing a decline observed since the pandemic’s peak. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported a 4.5% drop in violent crime compared to 2023, with murders decreasing by nearly 15%. Other offenses such as robbery, rape, and aggravated assault also saw reductions. These trends have become central to political debates concerning public safety.
City-level data supports this trend. The Council on Criminal Justice reported that across 38 U.S. cities, aggravated assaults fell by 7% and gun assaults decreased by 18% in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Homicides and robberies also declined, while most violent crime categories trended downward or returned to pre-2020 levels.
Cortes is a political commentator and strategist who served as a senior adviser and spokesperson for Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns. He previously worked on Wall Street as a trader and has been featured on networks such as Fox News, CNN, and CNBC for economic and political analysis. According to Fox News, Cortes now leads the League of American Workers where he emphasizes populist positions on immigration, crime, and labor policy.
The League of American Workers is an advocacy organization founded by Cortes with the mission of championing “pro-worker patriotic populism.” According to its official website, the group conducts research and communications efforts to highlight economic and cultural challenges faced by working-class Americans while opposing illegal immigration and advocating for tighter labor and border policies.
