Juárez in September had its lowest monthly number of homicides in years as police officials credited improved coordination among agencies for the reduction in violence.
Juárez had 29 homicides and Chihuahua City had 30 homicides as the state of Chihuahua saw murders drop in September to the lowest monthly statewide total in 10 years, Chihuahua state police Chief of Staff Luis Aguirre said at a news conference on Monday, Oct. 5.
"It's atypical in a historic manner and something very positive for the Juárez community that the border city came in lower than the capital of Chihuahua in intentional homicides," Aguirre said.
"For more than a decade, this border city has carried
the stigma of being a violent city, being among the principal rankings of homicide and violence at a global level," Aguirre said.
In years past, it was not uncommon for Juárez to have 170 to 180 homicides a month, Aguirre added.
Juárez was most recently ranked No. 17 (an improvement from No. 13 in 2024) on a list of the 50 most-dangerous cities in the world in 2025, in an annual ranking by a Mexican public safety think tank.
Juárez had 927 homicides in all of 2025, dropping below 1,000 killings in a year for the first time since 2017. In 2025, the month with the fewest murders was November, with 48, according to El Paso Times archives.
Juárez Mayor Hector Rafael Ortiz Orpinel, in a recent statement, said that municipal strategies have strengthened public safety and are creating a more peaceful city for families, while there is still more work to do to further reduce crime.
Aguirre credited the drop in murders to increased coordination between police, the state attorney general's office, Mexico's army and the National Guard.
The decrease in homicides is a result of a state police strategy incorporating technology, analysis, the Centinela (Sentinel) public safety camera network and moving the state police command to Juárez, Aguirre added.
In September, the Chihuahua state government inaugurated Torre Centinela, or Sentinel Tower, the security operations nerve center inside the new shimmering, metallic skyscraper in downtown Juárez.
More than 400 killings in Juárez in 2026
The bloodshed in Juárez is generally attributed to fighting among criminal gangs involved in drug dealing and migrant trafficking.
There have been more than 400 murders in Juárez this year, according to statistics from the state attorney general's office tallied by Ficosec, a Chihuahua business organization that tracks crime trends with the goal of improving safety and security. Homicide totals can vary by reporting agency.
Juárez homicides by month 2026
- January: 41
- February: 43
- March: 65
- April: 75
- May: 37
- June: 52
- July: 39
- August: 36
- September: 29
So far in 2026, homicides peaked with 75 killings in April. August had 36 deaths, making it the month with the fewest deaths besides September, according to figures provided by Ficosec.
The statistics are far below what they were when Juárez was ranked as one of the most dangerous cities in the world, when it had 3,000 murders in 2010 during the Juárez and Sinaloa drug cartel war.
Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com and @BorundaDaniel on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Juárez, Mexico crime drops as border city posts historic low in murders
