McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — New FBI crime statistics for Fiscal Year 2023 show Texas border cities remained safer from violent crime than other cities for at least the second consecutive year.

However, the data does show a slight uptick from the previous year for violent crime in some Texas border cities. Nevertheless, the rates still remain far below other interior U.S. cities, Border Report has learned.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, a senior member of the House Homeland Security Appropriations Committee, provided Border Report with crime data for the past two fiscal years. He said he has crunched the numbers for a decade and it always comes back with less violent crime on the U.S. border than other cities.

“Year after year for the last 10 years, or at least that I’ve done, those numbers show that the border crime rate — whether it’s murders or whether it’s violent crimes — the border crime rate is lower than other cities in the interior of the state of Texas and certainly in other parts of the United States,” Cuellar told Border Report on Tuesday.

The FBI in late September released crime data, which found a national murder rate of 5.7 per 100,000 residents, but Cuellar says all of the border towns in Texas fared well below that.

“I believe, every single city along the border, is lower than the national crime rate of 5.7 murders per 100,000, and if you look at violent crimes, same thing,” Cuellar said.

The data is released at a divisive time in U.S. politics, just before the presidential election and at a time when many Republican lawmakers make group treks to the Texas-Mexico border to showcase what they pitch as a dangerous area. But Cuellar says that’s not true and he has this message to lawmakers:

“To all those politicians that come in and do photo ops along the border — whether it’s in the (Rio Grande) Valley, El Paso Laredo, Eagle Pass, wherever they come from — you just come in and take a photo and then take off, and then you blast our border communities. But again, you need to look at your own backyard, whether it’s in the interior of the state of Texas or in other parts of the state of the country, our crime rate is lower and it’s a safer community,” he said.

On Sept. 23, the FBI released detailed data on over 14 million criminal offenses in Fiscal 2023 as reported to the Uniform Crime Reporting Program by participating law enforcement agencies.

Overall, national violent crime in the United States decreased by 3% in Fiscal 2023 from Fiscal 2022, FBI data found.

The FBI’s 2023 Uniform Crime Report shows Texas border cities had a much lower murder rate in Fiscal Year 2023 than other cities, like New Orleans, Washington, D.C., and Cleveland, Ohio, according to the data supplied by Cuellar’s office.

Here’s a look at some of the numbers comparing border crimes and violent crimes in other cities:

Cuellar’s hometown of Laredo had a murder rate of 3.9 per 100,000 people; that’s down from 4.67 in Fiscal Year 2022. It’s below the murder rate in San Antonio (10.94); Fort Worth, Texas, (8.73); and Waco, Texas (8.23).

Meanwhile, the murder rate in the border towns of McAllen and Brownsville edged up from 3.44 and 2.12 in Fiscal 2022 to 4.8 and 4.2 in Fiscal Year 2023, respectively.

Still, these rates are much lower than the nearly 53 murders per 100,000 residents suffered in New Orleans, and 38 murders per 100,000 people in Washington, D.C., according to the data.

Nationwide, the murder and non-negligent manslaughter rates in Fiscal 2023 decreased 11.6% from Fiscal 2022, according to FBI data.

Violent border crimes drop

In Fiscal 2023, overall violent crime, which includes murder, non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, trended far lower in Texas border communities — from the West Texas town of El Paso to Brownsville — according to FBI data from Cuellar’s office.

Rio Grande City, in remote Starr County, had a rate of just 137 violent crime per 100,000 people, which was down 10% from Fiscal 2022.

McAllen had 144 violent crimes per 100,000 people in Fiscal Year 2023, which was a 35% drop from Fiscal 2022.

Brownsville dropped 9% in violent crimes from Fiscal Year 2022.

El Paso edged up slightly with 336.21 violent crimes per 100,000 in Fiscal 2023. That’s a 7% increase from 313.02 in Fiscal 2022, the new data shows.

Laredo had the most overall violent crime rate of 425.66 for every 100,000 residents, but Cuellar says it’s still far lower than the rate of 725 in Fresno, California, and 637 in Oklahoma City.

“I’ve lived my entire life and raised my family along the southern border. Every year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation releases crime statistics that show how crime rates are lower in border communities compared to non-border cities across the United States,” Cuellar said. “Our border remains safe and secure because of the efforts from our federal, state, and local law enforcement. It is imperative that our officers continue to be supported.”

More police for Laredo

On Wednesday, Cuellar also announced $3.12 million in federal funding that will be used to hire 25 new police officers in Laredo.

The funds came from theJustice Department’s Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS. COPS provides grants, training and technical assistance to law enforcement agencies to help reduce violent crimes. The COPS Hiring Program pays up to 75% of entry-level officer salaries and up to $125,000 per position with three years of funding over a five-year period. Local agencies must match at least 25% of the funding awarded, Cuellar said.

This year’s funds is a 67% increase from $1.875 million received in Fiscal Year 2022.

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.