McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — The latest FBI crime statistics show Texas border cities are safer than other U.S. metropolitan cities, and it’s not the first time.
According to FBI crime statistics released by Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, Texas border cities had fewer murders and violent crimes compared with other Texas cities and other U.S. cities in Fiscal Year 2024.
“Let’s take pride in what those facts show: Texas border communities, starting off with Laredo, are safer than many of America’s largest non-border communities. Safer than the national crime rate both in murder and in violent crimes. That’s not just a good headline, that’s good for the families. Safer streets mean stronger schools, stronger communities. They mean more jobs, and that means more peace of mind when you go to work, when you send your kids off to school, and when you walk to church on a Sunday. That’s the kind of community we all want to live in,” Cuellar said Monday at a news conference in his hometown of Laredo.
On Aug. 5, the FBI released crime statistics for Fiscal Year 2024 on over 14 million criminal offenses reported from law enforcement agencies nationwide.
Murder rates lower on border
In Fiscal 2024, the national murder rate was 5 for every 100,000 people — that’s down 14% from a rate of 5.7 per 100,000 people in Fiscal 2023. But in Texas border cities, the murder rate was significantly lower.
El Paso had a murder rate of 2.95; McAllen had a rate of 2.7; and Laredo’s rate was 2.32, while Rio Grande City had a rate of zero, according to FBI data.
That’s compared to a murder rate of 34.8 in Baltimore; 31.17 in Detroit; 25.5 in Washington, D.C., 13.8 in Houston; and 13.62 in Dallas.
McAllen’s murder rate dropped by half, from 4.8 in Fiscal 2023 to 2.7 in Fiscal 2024. It was 3.44 in Fiscal 2022, according to a Border Report comparison of data.
Brownsville’s murder rate dropped from 4.2 in Fiscal 2023 to 2.1 in Fiscal 2024, which was the same rate as it was in Fiscal 2022.
El Paso’s rate dropped from 5.02 in Fiscal 2023 to 2.95 in Fiscal 2024.
Washington, D.C.’s murder rate also dropped from 38.88 in Fiscal 2023.
“Those are numbers that we should all be very proud,” Cuellar said.
It’s “something that all of us that live here along the border have known for a long time, and what the FBI keeps confirming year after year, which is our border communities are among the safest in the nation. Period,” Cuellar said.
He has crunched the border crime rates for the past 11 years and says the results always show lower crime along the Texas-Mexico border, despite a sense by many in the country that the border is a lawless area rife with crime.
Violent crime rates on border
Most border cities also had lower violent crime rates than the national average in Fiscal 2024. However, the violent crime rates did edge up in some border towns from Fiscal 2023.
The 2024 national violent crime rate was 359.1 per 100,000 people. Laredo and Brownsville, however, had higher violent crime rates than the national average.
Brownsville’s violent crime rate increased in Fiscal 2024 to 456, up from 391.94 in Fiscal 2023.
Laredo’s violent crime rate was 365.84, which was a drop from Fiscal 2023 rate of 425.66.
El Paso had a rate of 278.41, down from 336.21 in Fiscal 2023.
McAllen had a violent crime rate of 149.98, up slightly from 144.15 in Fiscal 2023. Rio Grande City’s rate was 189.3, up from 137.68 in Fiscal 2023.
Houston’s violent crime rate was 1,148.2 per 100,000; Detroit’s was 1,781.3; and Little Rock had a rate of 1,672.
“Safety isn’t just a statistic in a government report. It’s whether a mom feels secure setting her child to school every morning. It’s whether a worker can head to a job site with peace of mind. It’s whether a family can walk to church on Sunday, knowing that their neighbors and their law enforcement are looking out for them. That’s what those numbers mean: safety to the individuals,” Cuellar said.
Laredo Mayor Victor Trevino credited a drop in violent crimes to more policing south of the border in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
He said thefts of U.S. cars in Laredo dropped 32% in Fiscal 2024. He says many cars had in previous years been taken to Mexico but Nuevo Laredo now requires license plates and registrations and he says that is lowering the number of cars taken from Texas to Mexico.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
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