Or is it just the result of the "stand in one spot and don't move" policy, leading to less apprehensions because...no effort is being made to apprehend anyone?
The decline in illegal crossings are real in El Centro Sector. The traffic has shifted into Yuma and Tuscon Sectors because those Sectors don't have the resources and manpower that El Centro has. The illegals believe it's much easier to cross farther east.
Were there not specific orders from On High in the Border Patrol shortly after the Minuteman event last spring to deliberately keep apprehensions low? As I recall, those orders were issued to demonstrate that the Minutemen were not effective and that the drop in apprehensions had nothing to do with them.
And now we are supposed to believe these statistics as if they mean something?