[IYAS9YAS]

I just haven’t seen the ubiquitous violence most US media is claiming.

You aren't driving far enough east. Try it in the Los Cruces, NM, El Paso, TX, and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua area. Daily the local news in the Albuquerque area has stories about killings (1,400 murders in Juarez alone in 2008, more in 2009, and on track in 2010 to top that), kidnappings, drugs. You name it, it's bad.

[pcgTheDestroyer]

You aren't driving far enough east. No, I believe it. Even less far east than that, Tecate is far more renowned for its violence than Tijuana, at least amongst the locals that I've spoken to.