Skip to Content

Press Release

Congressman Cuellar Announces Latest FBI Crime Statistics for Texas Border Region

Statistics Show Border Has Lower Murder Rate than National Average

WASHINGTON, October 8, 2015 | Riley Brands ((202) 226-0507)
Today Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28) released a compilation of the latest statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that show a lower murder rate in cities along the Texas-Mexico border than in other major cities across the nation and the State of Texas. The numbers are from 2014.

The FBI crime rates also show that the number of robberies, assaults, and rapes are significantly lower in border cities than the major metropolitan cities in Texas.  

“Many people, both in the political arena and out, mischaracterize the southern border region as very unsafe,” Congressman Cuellar said. “But today’s numbers, for yet another year, paint a very different picture. These statistics clearly show that some of the safest cities in the United States are on the U.S.-Mexico border.  The murder rate is actually higher in Washington, D.C. where I work than in McAllen, El Paso or Brownsville, all along the Texas border with Mexico. These numbers should cause people to rethink some of the things they may have heard about the region. Misinformation like that hurts our local economy and makes it difficult to attract skilled workers and encourage investment.”


Some of the key takeaways from the latest FBI crime statistics include:

·         The murder rates in Washington, DC, Dallas, and Houston are more than twice the murder rates in McAllen, Brownsville and El Paso, respectively

·         In 2014, there were 242 murders in Houston and 116 in Dallas, compared to 14 murders in Laredo, six in McAllen and five in Brownsville.

·         In 2014, there were 10,186 robberies in Houston and 4,202 robberies in Dallas, compared to 415 in El Paso, 196 in Laredo, 138 in Brownsville and 68 in McAllen.

 

Attached to this release are the following seven charts: 2014 TX Cities Total Robberies, 2014 TX Cities Total Aggravated Assaults, 2014 TX Cities Total Rapes, 2014 Murder Rates, 2014 TX Cities Total Murders         and 2014 FBI Releases 2014 Crime Statistics.

To access the latest FBI crime statistics, visit this link: https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2014/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014