Sonora Crime News

Violent crime stories and trends

As a state with major drug- and human-trafficking routes from Mexico to the United States, the state of Sonora, Mexico has had an element of violent crime for decades.

Violent crime typically did not involve those without cartel connections, especially visitors to the state.

That all changed in 2019. That year, levels of homicides increased dramatically in the state, to include killings of civic officials – police and city administrative officials.

And crime has increased in 2020. Violent shootings in previously peaceful towns like Magdalena de Kino. Drug interdiction in Northern Sonora, where federal police burned fields of poppies and marijuana near Imuris, just south of Nogales. And a violent homicide rate that jumped higher than last year’s records in cities like Ciudad Obregon and Hermosillo.

And the discovery of buried after-effects, as searching mothers found mass graves near Ciudad Obregon and Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point).

We do not cover every Sonora crime news story. Homicides occur every day in cities like Ciudad Obregon and Hermosillo and covering every one would be too time-consuming. Instead, we will post stories of larger crime incidents, events that may have an impact on your decision to visit Sonora.

To read tourism-related stories, click here.

The State Department recommends that you reconsider travel to Sonora because of crime. And we agree.