Trump claims there is chaos at the border, but crime rates in that area are among the lowest in the country

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The homicide rates of several U.S. communities on the border with Mexico remained well below the national average in 2023, according to a report of the latest FBI crime data.

Former President Trump and many Republicans have repeatedly claimed that U.S. border communities have turned into chaotic, lawless areas with high crime because of a rise in migrants seeking asylum — but Axios found that the data doesn’t match those claims.

The average homicide rate of 11 border cities was lower than the national average, per the FBI’s most recent data, released in September.

The 11 cities — Brownsville, McAllen, Laredo, Eagle Pass, Del Rio and El Paso in Texas; Sunland Park in New Mexico; Nogales and Yuma in Arizona; and Calexico and San Diego in California — had an average homicide rate of 4.4 per 100,000 residents, compared to 5.7 nationwide.

For the border cities, that was a slight decrease from 2022, when they had a homicide rate of 4.5.

Four of the cities recorded no homicides in 2023. Yuma, a community of nearly 100,000 people, had the highest homicide rate (11) and the highest rate of violent crime (474.9) of all border cities.

The violent crime rate in border communities was slightly above the national average (363.8) for the second year in a row — after years of declines.

The 11 communities had a violent crime rate of 393.8 per 100,000 residents in 2023 — a 2% decrease from the year before.

Calexico, California, a city of 38,000, had the lowest violent crime rate, 138.6.

Violent crime, as recorded by the FBI, includes homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

The 11 cities have a total population of 2.9 million, yet their combined violent crime rate is much lower than that of Chicago or Houston, which have populations of 2.6 million and 2.3 million, respectively.

Houston’s violent crime rate is 1,110.3 and Chicago’s 632.7.

El Paso had a violent crime rate of 350.8 and a homicide rate of 3.8.

The city of 678,000, home to the highest percentages of Mexican American residents, remains one of the safest communities of its size.

McAllen, located across from Reynosa, Mexico, one of the most dangerous places in the Americas, had one of the lowest violent crime rates on the border, 218.5.