FBI: Border Crime is Spilling into New Mexico

KRQE T.V. reports that the FBI office in Albuquerque say border-related crimes are “seeping into New Mexico.

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Raul Bujanda, Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Albuquerque field office says the uptick has people in New Mexico asking many questions. “Why so much violence? Why drug trafficking is such a big problem”. Bujanda says these are the types of questions the ABQ FBI office receives every day.

One factor, he says, is that New Mexico’s border with Mexico doesn’t have any kind of barriers. “This is no structure that separates (New Mexico) from Mexico”, Bajunda says.

This may all be true, but Albuquerque has always had a much higher crime rate than, say, El Paso which is smack dab on the border with Mexico. The agent’s point stands: there ARE more constructed barriers in El Paso than there are along the New/Old Mexico border.

But, El Paso’s crime rate (especially violent crime) has been much lower than ABQ for a long time. Using the FBI’s own crime date, El Paso has had a comparatively low crime rate. The 2017 statistics ranked El Paso as the 6^th safest in the United States.

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The same data set had Albuquerque as the 8^th MOST dangerous city with more than 300,000 people. As far as property crime (things like burglary, auto theft and arson) was more than FOUR TIMES HIGHER than El Paso.

Or, check out these stats from 2024.

When it comes to violent crime, so far in 2024, El Paso has a ranking of 22.1. The national rate is 22.7.

Albuquerque is 51.

Again, those numbers are based on the FBI’s own data. And, this year, the difference in property crime is even greater. El Paso at 30.6, the national average 35…and Albuquerque a whopping 85!

In short, the FBI statistic show that Albuquerque has a violent crime rate that is twice El Paso’s and a property crime rate that is nearly THREE TIMES GREATER than here.

Look, I know border-related crime is a major concern in BOTH cities. But El Paso is right here on the frontline while Albuquerque is 300 miles from the border. All things being equal, the Albuquerque FBI should look into what El Paso is doing right.