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Illegal immigrant apprehensions down across southern New Mexico

Published/Last Modified on Thursday, Apr 03, 2008 - 05:22:26 am MST

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DEMING, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Border Patrol says the number of illegal immigrants apprehended along the New Mexico-Mexico border has fallen 68 percent.

The agent in charge of the Border Patrol station in Deming, Rick Moody, says 2,493 illegal immigrants have been apprehended so far this year.

He says that compares with 7,734 apprehensions during the same period last year.

Moody credits an increase in Border Patrol agents and Operation Jumpstart for the decline.

He says there are 300 people assigned to the Deming station, compared with about 150 agents there in June 2006.

President Bush in May 2005 ordered 6,000 National Guard troops to New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and California to help the Border Patrol stem illegal immigration.

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Billy Hill wrote on Apr 3, 2008 3:54 PM:

" With nine out of ten illegals making it safely into the US, the fact that apprehensions are up or down is largely a function of how hard they are looking.
Not long ago one of the Border Watch groups located over a hundred illegals within a couple of miles of the Border Patrol. It wasn't that BP couldn't find them, they were busy doing something else. "