Henry Cuellar, Dem lawmaker, says U.S.-Mexico border safer than Washington, D.C.

The nation’s capital is a far more dangerous place to live than the southwest border’s big cities, a Democratic congressman said Wednesday, saying the crime numbers challenge the notion of a border out of control.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, Texas Democrat, used the new FBI violent crime states released this week to justify the claim, saying the murder rate in Washington, D.C., was nearly 10 times the rate in El Paso, Del Rio, Brownsville and McAllen in Texas.

The violent crime rate in the District was triple the rate in El Paso, and nearly 10 times higher than Del Rio or McAllen in Texas, Mr. Cuellar said.

“When you look at the actual numbers, they show that some of the safest cities in the United States are on the U.S.-Mexico border,” the congressman said.

The office of Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district’s non-voting representative in Congress, did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the comparison.

Analysts for years have warned of a looming crime crisis along the border from spillover violence from northern Mexico, particularly from drug cartel clashes, but with scattered exception that has not come to pass.