Texas Border Business
A recent article by the online news website Axios compared violent crime rates of 11 U.S. border cities with the violent crime rates of comparably sized cities located within the United States and found that cities along the U.S.-Mexico border continue to have crime rates well below the national average. In fact, using FBI crime data, the news outlet analysis showed that these 11 border cities had a violent crime rate of 340.2 per 100,000 residents, which is approximately 15% lower than the national average of 398.5. In 2020, the average murder rate of these border cities from California to Texas was 4.1 per 100,000 residents — well below the FBI’s reported national average of 6.5.
“There are many ways that this same FBI Uniform Crime Data can be analyzed, and each time, the result is the same: McAllen and the entire U.S. border region, from the tip of Texas to California, is not only safe, but also, safer than many other cities throughout the United States,” said McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos.
According to the analysis, El Paso, a city of 681,000, had a violent crime rate of 318 per 100,000 residents. But in comparison, Memphis, a city of 650,00, has a violent crime rate of 2,356.5 — more than seven times higher. Del Rio, which recently was in the national spotlight when 14,000 Haitian immigrants descended on the community of nearly 36,000 people, had a violent crime rate of 162.4. Lima, Ohio, a city nearly the same size in population, had a violent crime rate of 688.8. Additionally, five cities, including Calexico, California; Nogales, Arizona; and the Texas cities of Del Rio, Eagle Pass, and McAllen all had violent crime rates below 190. The only border city with a higher violent crime rate was Yuma, Arizona, a farming community near the California state line, with a violent crime rate near 500 and a murder rate approaching twice the national average.
McAllen Chief of Police Victor Rodriguez praised the hard work and dedication of the entire McAllen police force, for their diligence in keeping the community safe, stressing that it the success of the officers is thanks to the support from municipal elected officials, as well as from the citizens, who also do their part in helping to keep the community safe and the crime rate low.
Chief Rodriguez pointed out that McAllen’s 2.1% murder rate highlighted in the Axios article was the murder of the two McAllen police officers, Officer Edelmiro Garza, Jr. and Officer Ismael Chavez, killed in the line of duty when responding to a domestic dispute.
“Our officers are dedicated to keeping our residents and community safe and protected,” concluded Rodriguez.
The news article quoted Alex Nowrasteh, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, who told Axios the presence of the U.S. Border Patrol, one of the largest federal law enforcement agencies,along the border likely contributes to lower violent crime numbers. In addition, he said sited the research-supported fact that various studies show immigrants are less likely to commit crimes overall helps explain the region’s consistently low murder rates.
According to FBI crime data, 10 of the 11 U.S. border communities maintained low rates of violent crime over the last five years.
“It is important that we continue to highlight to the rest of the country, just how safe McAllen and the entire border region is,” said McAllen City Manager Roel “Roy” Rodriguez, P.E. “We will not let others paint our city as otherwise. Statistics show that violent crime rates in the U.S. Mexico border dispel the narrative of this region being filled with chaos and crime.”
Murder rates in border towns and U.S. cities of similar size
Police department-reported offenses in 2020
- Nogales, AZ vs. Greenfield, IN
0.0% 0.0%
- Calexico, CA vs. Covington, KY
0.0% 2.5%
- Sunland Park, NM vs. Asbury Park, NJ
0.0% 6.5%
- McAllen, TX vs. Kansas City, KS
2.1% 36.7%
- Del Rio, TX vs. Lima, OH
2.8% 32.9%
- Brownsville, TX vs. Sioux Falls, SD
3.8% 6.9%
- San Diego, CA vs. Dallas
3.9% 17.6%
- El Paso, TX vs. Memphis
4.1% 44.5%
- Laredo, TX vs. St. Petersburg, FL
4.6% 5.6%
- Eagle Pass, TX vs. Jackson, MI
6.8% 21.6%
- Yuma, AZ vs. Quincy, MA
11.0% 1.1%
