US-Mexico border isn't so dangerous

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

US-Mexico border isn't so dangerous
By MARTHA MENDOZA, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, June 3, 2010 at 1:19 a.m.

MEXICO CITY — It's one of the safest parts of America, and it's getting safer.

It's the U.S.-Mexico border, and even as politicians say more federal troops are needed to fight rising violence, government data obtained by The Associated Press show it actually isn't so dangerous after all.

The top four big cities in America with the lowest rates of violent crime are all in border states: San Diego, Phoenix , El Paso and Austin, according to a new FBI report. And an in-house Customs and Border Protection report shows that Border Patrol agents face far less danger than street cops in most U.S. cities.

The Customs and Border Protection study, obtained with a Freedom of Information Act request, shows 3 percent of Border Patrol agents and officers were assaulted last year, mostly when assailants threw rocks at them. That compares with 11 percent of police officers and sheriff's deputies assaulted during the same period, usually with guns or knives.

In addition, violent attacks against agents declined in 2009 along most of the border for the first time in seven years. So far this year assaults are slightly up, but data is incomplete.

"The border is safer now than it's ever been," said U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Lloyd Easterling.


Read more: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jun/03/ap-impact-us-mexico-border-isnt-so-dangerous/

[ixion]

1. The primary reason there is danger there

is because of the presence of low-life racist idiots armed to-the-teeth.

[a la izquierda]

2. HAHAHA, i LOVE this post...

it's sure to bring out the foaming-at-the-mouth DU defenders.

[pinboy3niner]

6. And they seek to recruit military veterans with "kill records"

What could go wrong?

[MellowDem]

15. No, it's obvious where the danger comes from...

and the crime. It's the drug policy of this nation and Mexico that makes the border as dangerous as it is and spurs crime in our cities far, far away from the border.

[ProudDad]

24. Don't forget the economic policies of our corporate capitalist masters

and their stooges in the White House and Congress...

It's the destruction of most indigenous self-sufficiency in most of Mexico (thank you ADM and Cargil) that helps DRIVE these good folk to come up here to get some of their wealth back and send it home.

[Xenotime]

17. agreed

[JackRiddler]

19. A cathartic statement, but untrue. The primary reason...

lies in the know-nothing drug and immigration policies of the United States government.

[Steve20]

33. Actually

it's the drug smugglers who are armed to the teeth.

[pampango]

3. "Despite claims made in S1070, Arizona's crime rate has been falling for years."

Border Boletín: Debunking myths about SB 1070

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/article_99c156b2-6ea1-11df-b5c4-001cc4c002e0.html

In the "Debunking the myths" section of the report, the authors raise counter points to popular statements made surrounding the law, such as:

• The state legislature needed to do something about the crime caused by illegal immigration in Arizona.

"Despite the claims that SB1070 was needed to fight crime in the state, Arizona's crime rate has been falling for years," the report says, pointing to U.S. Bureau of Justice statistics.

• That illegal immigrants cause crime.

"Unauthorized immigration is not associated with higher crime rates," the report says, pointing again to Bureau of Justice statistics.

• That there is a rise in border related crime related to illegal immigration.

"Border cities are not necessarily prone to higher crime due simply to their location," the report says, pointing out a story about El Paso, Texas.

• That the Phoenix kidnappings would be addressed by the law.

"There are serious issues relating to human trafficking that need to be addressed, but SB 1070 won't stop the kind of kidnappings going on today," the report says, pointing to a pair of reports that show that the Phoenix kidnappings that have been used so often in media reports are mostly drop houses where smugglers hold illegal immigrants.

[timo]

4. Austin??

Austin is almost a six hour drive from the border 4 I guess if your in Laredo, adn phoenix is a pretty good stretch too, and has the kidnapping title going for it.....I live 6 miles north of the river and just dont put alot of stock into that report...saying that the border is safe because Austin Texas has a low crime rate....not alot of logic there!!

[Javaman]

5. I agree.

Using Austin as an example is complete stupidity.

Last time I checked, I haven't seen any reports in the statesmen about bags of severed heads being found in our city.

Mexico Gangs Displaying Severed Heads October 23, 2006
http://www.infowars.com/articles/immigration/mexico_gangs_displaying_severed_heads.htm

Mexico police find severed heads 10 March 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7936115.stm

Mexico drug killers dump 6 severed heads by church Dec 16, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BF5N420091216

[Tempest]

7. Mayors of border towns and cities say the same thing

Fact is, border towns and cities are not seeing a lot of crime either.

[timo]

8. couldve fooled me

we have had a big uptick in crime down here, home invasions are on the rise as well as a police pursuits involving mules hauling carloads of people who didnt use the bridge to cross into this country!!

[ProudDad]

26. Actual FACTS don't support your prejudice... (n/t)

[EFerrari]

10. The Justice Department says it, too. Iirc, they have tables up at their site. n/t

[mbperrin]

13. This story is a media hoax, then.

http://laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=14091&ArticleId=353843



Mexico’s 2010 Murder Toll Surpasses 2,000

MEXICO CITY – The nearly 50 murders committed on the final day of a long holiday weekend brought to 2,049 the number of drug-related homicides in Mexico just 74 days into 2010, capital daily El Universal said Tuesday.

In 2006, by comparison, gangland murders did not breach the 2,000 threshold until late November.

The northern state of Chihuahua accounts for nearly a quarter of this year’s slayings, according to the newspaper, which noted the presence of FBI agents in Ciudad Juarez, the state’s biggest city, to investigate the killings last weekend of three people linked to the U.S. Consulate in the violent border metropolis.

Turf battles among drug cartels and the security forces’ struggle against the illegal trade have claimed nearly 19,000 lives in Mexico since December 2006, when current President Felipe Calderon took office.

more at link

[Tempest]

16. The article is about Mexico, genius

We're talking about American border towns.

[mbperrin]

18. The border with whom? Maybe ................... Mexico?!

Next, the tourism industry can see how many people were actually killed on the invisible 1/8" wide strip that is the border, and conclude no one was ever killed on the border! Mark Twain said it best about statistics.

Did you read my link, and do you know where Chihuahua is, where the largest increase is?


I teach World Geography in high school, and I often weep at the ignorance of same by folks.....

On the other hand, YOU feel free to visit, and soon! Be sure to carry large amounts of cash and drive a new vehicle!

[pinboy3niner]

21. Border security on the U.S. side/Mexico side are two DIFFERENT things

The OP reports on a study of security on the U.S. side. From your link:

"One factor in the growing carnage is Mexico’s transition from a “transit country” for U.S.-bound cocaine, marijuana and heroin to a drug-consuming nation.

"As a result, cartels no longer vie just for smuggling routes, but for control of retail drug sales on Mexican soil." (Emphasis mine.)


The key words, again, are: "on Mexican soil". No matter how horrendous the violence is on the Mexican side of the border, the experience on the U.S. side is completely different:


Violence is not up on Arizona border
Mexico crime flares, but here, only flickers
by Dennis Wagner - May. 2, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

NOGALES, Ariz. - Assistant Police Chief Roy Bermudez shakes his head and smiles when he hears politicians and pundits declaring that Mexican cartel violence is overrunning his Arizona border town.

"We have not, thank God, witnessed any spillover violence from Mexico," Bermudez says emphatically. "You can look at the crime stats. I think Nogales, Arizona, is one of the safest places to live in all of America."

FBI Uniform Crime Reports and statistics provided by police agencies, in fact, show that the crime rates in Nogales, Douglas, Yuma and other Arizona border towns have remained essentially flat for the past decade, even as drug-related violence has spiraled out of control on the other side of the international line. Statewide, rates of violent crime also are down.
<snip>
In 2000, there were 23 rapes, robberies and murders in Nogales, Ariz. Last year, despite nearly a decade of population growth, there were 19 such crimes. Aggravated assaults dropped by one-third. No one has been murdered in two years.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/05/02/20100502arizona-border-violence-mexico.html

[mbperrin]

22. Thank you for finally being the one who will concede violence on the

Mexican side of the border. And the propaganda of using AUSTIN as a border town for statistics is just a nutty attempt at propaganda.

That was my point all along - there are two side of the border, not just one, and there are two different stories there. Thank you.

[ProudDad]

28. Stop the phony "war on drugs(tm)", stop the violence...

It's driven by USAmerikan Policy creating demand and keeping the prices high.

It's not anything the Mexican People have any real control over...

[ProudDad]

27. Self Delete

inflammatory... :shrug:

[EFerrari]

9. Except no one can track down how that kidnapping title is true.

As soon as you look for good numbers, it's over.

[Lagomorph]

11. So measure the crime rates of the counties which...

...border Mexico.

Ignore everything else, since those are the places the migrants are escaping TO, and blending in when they get there, and then let's see those numbers.

The problems with statistics is all the people cherry picking numbers they like and publishing is as "truth".

Damn near everything is true, somewhere, just not universally.

90%+ of our "voluntary foot migrants" are not the problem.

[EFerrari]

14. I agree about numbers. n/t

[ProudDad]

29. It seems to be

Phoenix is the kidnapping capital of USamerica at present...nearly all drug related activity...

End the phony "war on drugs(tm)", end the vast majority of kidnappings.

It doesn't take much to qualify though, they had 302 for the first 11 months of 2009 in a city of 1.6 MILLION people...

[ProudDad]

25. I live in Tucson

60 miles from the border...This article rings VERY true here...

The reality is that undocumented workers and their families contribute very little to the crime rate...much lower in proportion to their numbers...

The big crime problem here near downtown is burglary. The majority of those are perpetrated by white "citizens"...

So, just because you're sitting all paranoid down there 6 miles north of the river doesn't mean this article isn't true. Don't buy into Russel Pearce and Jan Brewers bullshit!

SB1070 is all about voter suppression and re-electing right-wing neo-nazis and Jan Brewer (right-wing neo-nazi lite)...It's not about community safety or "illegals". They're just fooling you so you won't look at how the rich developers, car dealers and banks, the kleptrocacy, are screwing you.

End the phony "war on drugs(tm)" and you would END the profit that creates the violence south of the border! And you won't get any more ranchers killed either...Krentz was killed by drug runners...

Oh, and where do those cartels get most of their guns??? Places like these, hmmm?
http://www.elpasogunexchange.net/
http://www.collectorsgunexchange.com/

[mbperrin]

12. So my student who was pulled out of his vehicle at gunpoint along with

the rest of his family while visiting relatives in Ojinaga during spring break should feel good about safety on the border?

Strange - his dad, who was RAISED in OJ, now says that their relatives will have to come visit them here in the future. He's through.

Okay. I'll relay the info about how safe the border really is to him in the fall when school reopens.

[ProudDad]

30. One example of the "Anecdotal Fallacy" does not negate the facts in the article...

http://www.fallacyfiles.org/volvofal.html

But this is a popular exercise here on DU... :shrug:

[mbperrin]

31. The "facts" in the article are located hundreds of miles from the border.

Any idea where Austin is vis a vis the border?

Facts are just a large enough collection of anecdotes to be considered a population. This "study" had four subjects. No scientist would consider that a large enough sample to reach any valid conclusion.

But you knew that, right? Because picking and choosing news articles like they were tablets of stone is also quite popular here on DU.

[Socal31]

20. He who is not afraid.....

go spend a night in TJ for me.


It is bad down there right now. Just awful.

[ProudDad]

23. Thanks, Judy...

I just saw this in my local paper's website (Tucson's "Arizona Daily Star") and the usual wing-nuts on the comment pages are out in force...

"Don't confuse me with FACTS, I KNOW it's dangerous here in Tucson." Dumb sh*ts...

Arizona, the New Mississippi, is truly filled with bat-crap crazy MoFo's...

K&R...

:hi:


Oops, too late to recommend ... glad to kick it though -- SB1070, the "immigrant" problem (except for undocumented immigrants), etc. are SUCH BULLSHIT!

Oh, and untrue as well:

http://factcheck.org/2010/06/arizonas-papers-please-law/

[Steve20]

32. Mexican drug cartels

make the mafia look like boy scouts.

[phusion]

34. The Mexican border towns have always been bad...

I was always told that, growing up in ABQ. TJ, Juarez, whatever.