Trump Celebrates Prison Reform Victory over Clinton-Era Crime Laws

“The law rolls back provisions of the 1994 Clinton crime law that was so devastating to so many and that disproportionately impacted the African American community,” Trump said in a celebration speech at the White House. “Nobody believes how much, and now they understand it.”

The president signed the bill in December of 2018, but supporters held an additional celebration of the bill’s success after just three months.

He announced that since the bill passed, more than 500 people with unfair prison sentences had been released in less than four months and that more than 16,000 inmates enrolled in drug treatment programs.

“It’s an incredible thing when you see some of the people here — so conservative and then some so liberal,” he said. “And we just have a lot of great people that came together. They knew it had to be done.”