Arizona border apprehensions drop 40% (photo)

Arizona border apprehensions drop 40% (photo) Nogalas border wall …

Arizona border apprehensions drop 40% (photo) Nogalas border wall Although official numbers won't be released for several weeks, Customs and Border Protection Director Bersin said after a horseback tour of the border with Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano and border agents on Sunday that the number of arrests in the Tucson area fell to 123,000 in the last fiscal year, with arrests at the Nogales Station, Tucson's largest department, falling to 18,000, a 43% drop. Bersin praised those border agents, saying they were doing something historic. The decline in apprehensions shows that illegal immigrants are no longer entering the United States through there and would be apprehended if they did. The 123,000 arrests in Tucson were the lowest number since 1993, a marked improvement for the region. Bersin said that area was out of control just a few years ago. Bersin said, "We were reacting to smugglers, and that was out of control. ... This year, they are reacting to us." The Obama administration deployed the National Guard, added new border walls and technical equipment, and increased border agents to make illegal crossings more difficult. The federal government has also stepped up immigration enforcement. In fiscal year 2011, deportations hit an all-time high. These factors, combined with a depressed U.S. job market, have significantly reduced the number of border apprehensions. Eric Lee, associate director of the Center for North American Cross-Border Studies at Arizona State University, said the Mexican economic boom, which grew by as much as 5% last year, has also made the United States less attractive to illegal immigrants. Arizona, and particularly the Tucson area, has for years been a popular clandestine border crossing for smugglers and a focus of the national debate over illegal immigration, where politicians have repeatedly called for greater border security. Arizona Republican Senator John McCain strongly criticized the Obama administration's border policies, but he also acknowledged that the administration has achieved some positive results. Still, he said the government should do more. He said that, in general, the U.S. government's measures are not adapted to the escalation of violence on the other side of the border, which poses a threat to the United States. He also said that the border wall and technical equipment are not enough, and more National Guard troops should be deployed in the border area. President Obama has repeatedly pointed to the decline in Border Patrol apprehensions as confirmation that he has tightened border security. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said that in the general election, there is no doubt that President Obama will mention that his policies are working. But some would counter that your economy is so bad that apprehensions at the border are down. In several Republican debates, presidential candidates accused Obama of not adequately strengthening border security and promised that they would strengthen border enforcement. One of the candidates, Representative Bachmann of Minnesota, pledged to strengthen border security in October this year. Another candidate, Cain, a former CEO of Pizza Company, called for the establishment of an electric grid to deter border crossers, but after that statement aroused strong criticism and protests, he claimed that he was joking.