Debating immigration is one thing, but U.S. Rep Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo) is tired of rhetoric from both sides in the debate over the future of the DACA program claiming that the U.S. Mexico border is a hotbed of violent crime, and that immigrants are inherently violent, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Cuellar, who is on the House Homeland Security Committee, particularly blames Republicans for 'mischaracterizing the southern border area as unsafe for rife with gang activity.'
"But this year, just like every other year I have been in office, the numbers show that the murder rate is significantly higher in Washington D.C. than Laredo, Brownsville, or McAllen," Cuellar said. "These numbers should cause people to rethink some of the things they may have heard about this region. Misinformation like that hurts our local economy and makes it difficult to attract skilled workers and encourage investment.”
Border residents routinely tell of friends and relatives who live in inland parts of the United States asking them about whether they see 'illegal immigrants hanging around on streetcorners' or inquiring about super high crime rates caused by illegals.
Cuellar says first of all, despite high profile cases like the Kate Steinle killing in San Francisco, all statistics show that immigrants commit crimes at far lower rates that American citizens. And he points out that the recent uptick in violence along the border, including the murder of a Border Patrol agent in west Texas in December, is the work not of immigrants, but of Mexican smuggling cartels who exploit immigrants to make money.
“Unlike their narrative, data shows that when you look at the actual numbers, some of the safest communities in the United States are on the U.S.-Mexico border," Cuellar said.
Cuellar said, according to 2016 crime statistics, if Members of Congress really want to be worried about violent crime, they should be worried about what is happening in their own neighborhoods. Washington DC has a violent crime rate which is eight times higher than the violent crime rate in McAllen Texas.