Rep. Reyes Has Sharp Responses To GOP Comments on Border Violence

Rep. Silvestre Reyes has released two strongly worded statements in the last four days that defend the safety reputations of cities along the U.S.-Mexico border.

His first statement came Monday in response to a comment by Speaker of the House John Boehner, in which he said Congress needs to focus on border security and decreasing border violence before turning to immigration policy reform. Rep. Boehner’s comments came as President Barack Obama has set his focus on reforming our nation’s immigration system.

The U.S. representative for El Paso said, “Speaker Boehner should focus on controlling the level of violence in his own state before tarnishing the image of border communities that remain among the safest places to live in America.

“As his office asserts that Congress cannot consider reforming our broken immigration system until border violence is under control, the fact remains that the six largest cities in Ohio all have higher rates of violence and crime than every major city along the U.S.-Mexico border. In fact, the Speaker’s own district in Dayton, Ohio saw more homicides in 2009 and 2010 than Texas’ four largest border cities combined, despite the fact that Dayton’s population of 141,500 is only about one-tenth of the size by comparison.

“According to the most recent City Crime Rankings Survey by CQ Press, Ohio’s cities have higher rates of violence and crime in every category, including murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft than border communities.”

Reyes’ second statement came out Wednesday. His office said it was released in response to testimony before a House Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing by Steven McCraw, the former Texas Homeland Security Director and Director of Public Safety. Here’s a portion of his statement:

“Today?s testimony by Republican Governor Rick Perry?s political appointee Steven McCraw is the lastest example of the statistical trickery that Republicans use to mislead the public on crime and violence along the border.

“In his testimony, McCraw stated that the homicide rate in El Paso, America?s safest large city, has increased a staggering 1,200% percent, and points to this figure as an indication of increased ?spill over crime.? What he fails to mention is that El Paso, with a population of 650,000, had one homicide in the first five months of the 2010. In fact, in 2010, El Paso had only five homicides, a number far fewer than Peoria, Illinois, whose population of 115,000 is less than one-fifth of El Paso?s but had 22 murders the same year.

“None of the city’s homicides this year have any relation to drug trafficking organizations or spill over violence, yet Republicans continue to distort the facts and manipulate crime statistics to mischaracterize the border as out-of-control.

“These types of gimmicks underscore how Republicans continue to sensationalize crime and violence in border cities to disparage the work of law enforcement professionals and incite fear among the public.”

Both Boehner and McCraw have not countered the statements from Reyes.