Border arrests in Tucson sector drop 12 percent

The Arizona Republic

Published: 04.11.2008

Border Patrol agents in the Tucson sector made 12 percent fewer arrests in the past six months than during the same period a year ago, and 24 percent fewer arrests than in the same period two years ago.

It continues a two-year decline all along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Tightened security, stepped-up enforcement and a weakening U.S. economy contributed to a 17 percent drop in arrests borderwide. The Yuma sector saw a 76 percent decline in arrests over a year ago.

In the Tucson sector, the busiest border region, the Border Patrol made 157,299 arrests from October through March.

In the Yuma sector, where extra fencing and agents have been added, the Border Patrol arrested 5,909 people from October through March, compared with 24,721 in the year-ago period and 77,316 in that span two years before.

That decline also coincides with prosecutions, rather than immediate removal, of first-time crossers, a strict Arizona employer-sanctions law and slowing demand for workers in the construction and housing industries.