Illegal immigrant arrests drop on Mexico border

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TUCSON (AP) -- Arrests of illegal immigrants dropped 16 percent in the Border Patrol's Tucson sector in the recently concluded 2008 fiscal year, in line with a 17 percent drop all along the Mexican border.

But agency figures released Friday show apprehensions plunged by much higher percentages elsewhere -- 78 percent in the Yuma Sector and nearly 60 percent in the El Paso sector. The San Diego sector showed a 6.7 percent increase in arrests.

"The overall trend is down," Border Patrol spokesman Jason Cilibertie in Washington. "We really attribute that to us getting the right amount of infrastructure and personnel" both in the Tucson sector and elsewhere.

"That's one of the big parts of our national strategy," Cilibertie added. "Invariably, once we adapt, so will the smugglers, and so we have to go right back at them and address our levels of infrastructure."
 

The Border Patrol has been on track to increase the number of agents to 18,000 agents nationwide, and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday he was "confident that we will be able to exceed our goal of 18,000 by the end of the calendar year."

Chertoff also said his department, which includes the Border Patrol, "can get close to our goal" of having 670 miles of pedestrian fencing and vehicle barriers built, under construction or under contract by Dec. 31 along portions of the 2,000-mile border with Mexico that the Border Patrol has identified as priorities.

Apprehensions in the Tucson sector, the patrol's busiest, fell by 60,543 from more than 378,000 in fiscal 2007. The Yuma sector's numbers dropped from nearly 38,000 last fiscal year to 8,363 in the 12 months that ended Sept. 30.

Arrests in the El Paso sector dropped from more than 75,000 in fiscal 2007 to slightly more than 30,000 in fiscal 2008, while the San Diego sector's arrests went up from about 152,000 to more than 162,000.

In the Tucson sector the number of migrant deaths also dropped by 17 percent, from 202 to 167 over the comparable period, while desert rescues fell from 573 to 458, a 20 percent dip.

Cilibertie said he could not comment on what impact troubling economic conditions in this country might be having in deterring people who might otherwise by trying to cross the border looking for work.

"I can't really tell you what effect that has had" on illegal immigration, he said.

But earlier this month, Tucson Sector spokesman Rob Daniels said, "Obviously, the economy in both the United States and Mexico is always a factor."

With the economic downturn, fewer jobs have been available for illegal immigrants, particularly in fields such as construction, and employer sanctions that the Arizona Legislature has enacted have dissuaded hiring of illegal immigrants, Daniels said.

"It's removing the draw, the attraction," he said.