A Democratic congressman who was the victim of a carjacking said Tuesday that the nation's capital is more dangerous than the southern border.
"I’m from the border. I live at the border. I hear a lot of members talk about how dangerous the border is," Rep. Henry Cuellar (D., Texas) told the Washington Post. "The border is safer than over here in Washington."
Cuellar was the victim of a carjacking in the Navy Yard neighborhood of Washington, D.C., less than a mile away from the Capitol. Three armed assailants on Monday evening robbed Cuellar of his car, electronics, and dinner. The men did not harm him, and, hours later, police recovered what the robbers had stolen.
"They recovered the car. They recovered everything. What really got me upset was they took my sushi," Cuellar told reporters. "They did recover the sushi, after all."
D.C. has seen an increase in crime, which has now affected multiple members of Congress. A man attacked Rep. Angie Craig (D., Minn.) in the elevator of her apartment building in February. D.C. officials released the man, who pleaded guilty to the attack in June, two months before the attack. Homicides in the district are approaching their highest level in 20 years, while carjackings in June reached their highest monthly total in years, and robberies have increased 69 percent since 2022.
As crime has increased in Washington, so have illegal border crossings. The first 20 days of September saw Border Patrol authorities encounter about 6,900 migrants per day, approaching the record of 7,000 per day set in the months of May 2022 and December 2022.