The Five Most Crime-Ridden U.S. Judicial Districts Are All on the Mexican Border

When measured by the number of criminal defendants charged with federal crimes by U.S. attorneys, the top five U.S. judicial districts for fiscal 2009 were all on the U.S.-Mexico border. In fact, these five judicial districts are the only five on the U.S.-Mexico border—covering its entire expanse from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. There are 94 federal judicial districts covering the area of all 50 states, plus Guam, the North Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. In the Southern District of Texas, which covers a stretch of border from Brownsville past Laredo, the U.S. attorney’s office filed criminal charges against 8,801 defendants in fiscal 2009. That gave that district the nation’s No. 1 ranking for most criminal defendants charged in 2009, according to data published in Table 1 of the United States Attorneys’ Annual Statistical Report for Fiscal Year 2009. The United States Attorneys’ Annual Statistical Report for Fiscal Year 2009, compiled and released by President Barack Obama’s Justice Department, is just more evidence that our government is not doing its job of defending our nation’s border with Mexico. According to the Justice Department’s own numbers, federal crime is dramatically disproportionate along that border compared to the rest of the United States...more