Arizonans stayed worried about illegal immigration

Arthur H. Rotstein
Associated Press
TUCSON

For Arizona, 2005 was the year of the border. Or more accurately, the latest year of the border.

For years now, anger and frustration have been mounting over the steady flow of undocumented immigrants crossing into Arizona, the busiest illegal entry point on the U.S.-Mexican border. But 2005 was a year when even more people than usual seemed to be paying attention.

State legislators pushed measures aimed at cracking down on human smugglers and undocumented immigrants, large groups of citizens began desert patrols, the governor declared a state of emergency in the state's four border counties and the federal government made a renewed push to gain control.

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INVASION USA
Border crackdown reporting success
Feds' zero-tolerance experiment implemented in key Texas sector
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

Federal immigration authorities say they are successfully implementing an aggressive, zero-tolerance policy at a major hot spot for illegal entry into the United States.

In a desolate area in Texas between Eagle Pass and Del Rio – including a 60-mile stretch of the Rio Grande – the longstanding practice of allowing border crossers to appear voluntarily at deportation hearings has been replaced with an experimental program, the Houston Chronicle reports.

"The old days of 'catch and release' for those folks are over," U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton told the paper.

Since Dec. 12, officials have been sending scores of illegal aliens through a swift process of detention, expedited hearings and deportation.

More than 500 illegal entrants have been detained.