Today, Congressman Cuellar released the latest FBI Crime Data showing that despite the narrative and rhetoric, violent crime rates in border cities are significantly less compared to the violent crime rate in other major American cities.

In 2016, the cities of Brownsville, and McAllen enjoy crimes rates so low, they happen to account for only 1/8th the crime rate of the city of Detroit, 1/5th the crime rate of Houston, and less than half of the crime rates of the cities of Dallas and San Antonio.

When narrowing the focus to just murder, the picture becomes even clearer. The murder rates in Washington D.C., Dallas, and Houston are more than four times the murder rates in Laredo, McAllen, and Brownsville, respectively.

“Once again, when you look at the actual numbers, they show that some of the safest cities in the United States are on the U.S.-Mexico border. Many people mischaracterize the Southern region as unsafe or ridden with gang violence. But this year, just like every other year I have been in office, the numbers show that the murder rate is significantly higher in Washington D.C. than Laredo, Brownsville, or McAllen. These numbers should cause people to rethink some of the things they may have heard about this region. Misinformation like that hurts our local economy and makes it difficult to attract skilled workers and encourage investment.”

Crime itself saw an upswing between 2015 and 2016, both nationally and in the state of Texas, but the crime rates in these border cities stayed relatively level.


The Latest FBI Crime Rates Also Show:

• The murder rates in Washington, D.C., was nearly double the murder rates in Laredo, McAllen, Brownsville and El Paso combined. The aggravated assault rate was significantly lower in border cities compared to other Texas and U.S. cities. Detroit’s aggravated assault rate was almost 19 times the rate in McAllen, Texas.

• The murder rates in Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio were more than twice the murder rate of Laredo, McAllen, Brownsville and El Paso, respectively.

• The robbery rates in border cities were less than half of the rates in Detroit and Washington, D.C., and significantly lower than Dallas or Houston.


Click the following links to view a chart of the 2016 violent crime rate and murder rate.