Arrests At U.S. Border Down

Proving that an increase in enforcement is effective, the apprehension of illegal immigrants has gone down significantly in an area of the U.S.-Mexico border notorious for its heavy flow of smugglers and individual violators.

The addition of U.S. Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops has undoubtedly deterred would-be illegal aliens along the New Mexico and west Texas border where apprehensions for the first three months of the federal government’s fiscal year dropped nearly 40% compared to the same period last year.

Known as the El Paso Border Sector, the 125,000-square-mile area includes the entire state of New Mexico and stretches into the west Texas counties of Hudspeth and El Paso. The U.S. Border Patrol runs a dozen stations in the area and this week it celebrated over recently released statistics. The El Paso sector apprehended 15,464 illegal immigrants in the same three-month period this year that it apprehended 24,886 last year.

The reduction in this sector also reflects the national trend along the southern border, where there has been a 23% decrease in apprehensions during the same three-month period this year. Some Border Patrol sectors, including Del Rio Texas and Yuma Arizona have reported apprehension decreases of up to 63%.

U.S. ranchers near the border have also reported a noticeable decrease in the traffic and thus defecation of their land. Illegal immigrants often vandalize property and armed human traffickers as well as violent Mexican drug smugglers have terrorized these American property owners.

One rancher called a border county in Arizona a community under siege where most land owners have been ambushed by illegals and traveling outdoors requires a weapon for protection.