Mexican president to Trump: Washington more violent than Mexico City

MEXICO CITY

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded Tuesday to President Donald Trump’s comments about Mexico City being “the most dangerous city in Latin America,” saying Washington, DC, the US capital, is far more violent.

"Now, what we don’t agree with is when he said, ‘It’s the most dangerous city in Latin America,’ because in that case, Mexico City is not the most dangerous city in Latin America; there are other cities that have higher crime rates per 100,000 inhabitants,” she said during her news conference at the National Palace in Mexico City.

Trump ranked Mexico City as “some of the places that you hear about as being the worst places on earth,” while justifying his decision to deploy military troops to Washington.

Before becoming a presidential candidate, Sheinbaum was mayor of Mexico City from 2018 to 2023. She said Washington had 187 murders in 2024, while Mexico City had 978.

While the numbers seem to depict Mexico City as the more insecure of the two cities, Sheinbaum underscored that by looking at the population rate in both cities, Washington rises as the most dangerous in terms of homicides.

“Mexico City has more than 9 million inhabitants, and Washington, as I said, has 700,000 inhabitants,” she explained. “So, the rate is 27 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in the case of Washington; and in the case of Mexico City, it's 10 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.”