A year ago, harried U.S. Border Patrol agents rounded up an average of 1,200 a day. About 3 million of the 8.5 million Mexican-born people in the United States are believed to be here illegally. Arrests of Mexicans trying to cross illegally were down 22 percent from October through January. In the Douglas sector, a major thoroughfare for illegals, the drop has been an even more precipitous 39 percent. The falling numbers are considered a leading indicator that fewer people are trying to slip into the United States.
Officials attribute the drop to beefed-up border patrols and Mexico's improving economy.
The feds still stop some 600 to 700 people trying to scurry across illegally but are guardedly optimistic that they are gaining ground in a long, frustrating struggle. The decline culminates a six-year shift in U.S. policy to focus on deterring unauthorized entries instead of trying to catch illegals once they've crossed. That has really changed the whole tenor of border enforcement. It's obvious in Douglas. On the ground, a border force that has grown from 60 to more than 600 agents in just six years scours the landscape from a fleet of SUVs and all-terrain vehicles.