Violent deaths in Venezuela have plummeted to a 22-year low as criminals increasingly join the millions fleeing the broke socialist nation - many of them entering the US to pursue their own twisted version of the American dream. 

Once deemed the world's most dangerous city, Caracas has seen homicides fall by a staggering 25 percent when compared to 2023, with the Venezuelan Violence Observatory registering 26.8 violent deaths per 100,000 people, compared to a rate of 35.3 for every 100,000 habitants in 2022.

But now, as Venezuelans increasingly flood over the US-Mexico border, reports of newly-arrived migrants committing horrific crimes have left Americans shocked - including that of two men arrested in the brutal abduction, rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Texas just last week. 

Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that the oil-rich socialist regime is emptying its jails and sending violent felons to the US as he campaigns for a second term.

But security experts say the real reason is more likely that criminals and gangsters are now seeking to escape the bankrupt nation and go where the money is.

According to InsightCrime, the dire economic situation in the country, combined with the mass population exodus, has reduced opportunities for those looking to extort, kidnap and rob back home.

'Crime is falling in Venezuela because of the destruction of the country's economy …because of the loss of opportunities for crime,' OVV director Roberto Briceño-León told InSight Crime. 

While the government does not publish official data on crime, Venezuelan security official Remigio Ceballos Ichaso has claimed overall crime has dropped by 32 percent - without citing what kind of crime that figure included.