http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0310arrestsdown0310.html
Border Patrol arrests of undocumented immigrants are down 30 percent compared with last fiscal year, the biggest drop since after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Border Patrol officials say the deployment of 6,000 National Guard soldiers has made it harder to breach the southern border, so fewer people are trying. The guard is helping spot illegal crossings, erecting walls and barriers and freeing up more agents to go into the field.
The decline, however, may be only temporary as immigrant smugglers search out new routes, said Tomas Jimenez, a University of California-San Diego immigration expert. The sagging U.S. construction industry also may be drawing fewer undocumented workers, he said.
Agents made 304,071 apprehensions borderwide from Oct. 1 to March 1, compared with 433,446 in the same period the year before.
...arrests are down 13 percent in the Tucson sector, and 66 percent in the Yuma sector.
2007-03-10
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