U.S. Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo) says the latest FBI crime figures demonstrate that the border region has been 'mischaracterized as the unruly and violent place depicted in movies like 'To Country for Old Men,' News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Cuellar tells News Radio 1200 WOAI that not only are San Diego and El Paso, the two cities on the border among the nation's 30 largest cities, also the cities with the lowest per capita murder rates, but cities up and down the border have lower rates of aggravated assault, robbery, and even drug crimes.
He says it is more dangerous for him to go to work than to go home.
"You look at the numbers for the border, it is a lot safer than Washington DC, where we work," Cuellar said.
In fact, Cuellar said the number of murders committed in Washington DC was double the number of murders committed in 2016 in Laredo, McAllen, Brownsville and El Paso combined.
The aggravated assault rate in Detroit, which is, ironically, on the U.S. Canada border, was 19 times the aggravated assault rate per capita in McAllen.
"Even violent crime rates, the border numbers are lower than the three largest cities that we have in Texas, Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio," Cuellar said.
Many border officials have complained for years about their region being depicted as unlawful, violent, and dangerous, with the streets running wild with illegal immigrants, when it fact the opposite is true.
These numbers should cause people to rethink some of the things they may have heard about this region," Cuellar said. "Misinformation like that hurts our local economy and makes it difficult to attract skilled workers and encourage investment."
Cuellar says even though violent crime rates skyrocketed in San Antonio in 2016, with a 55% increase in murders, violent crime in border cities remained steady last year.