BP, fort: County seeing fewer illegal crossers

Sierra Vista Herald, Sierra Vista Arizona ^ | Bill Hess

[SandRat]

TUCSON — Apprehensions of illegal immigrants in Cochise County in March is down by more than 50 percent, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector.

The reduction is about 7 percent sectorwide, Shannon Stevens said Thursday.

The emphasis in the county is paying off, she said, adding the number of agents, use of unmanned aerial systems and other technology also will be used to establish operational control in the Tucson Sector’s west desert area.

The West Desert Corridor is now absorbing the most illegal immigrant traffic.

“We’re concentrating as many assets as we can (in the western part of the sector),” she said.

The Tucson Sector covers most of Arizona, except the area around the state’s boundary with California, which is under control of the Yuma Sector.

Last month, 63,574 illegal immigrants were apprehended throughout the Tucson Sector, compared to 63,803 in March 2005, according to figures provided by Stevens.

In Cochise County, 10,230 illegal immigrants were taken into custody last month, versus 21,232 in March 2005, she said.

According to Fort Huachuca spokeswoman Tanja Linton, figures provided her by the post’s 18th Military Police Detachment indicate a reduction in illegal immigrants detained on the installation.

Illegal immigrants are not apprehended on the post by MPs, but are legally detained until they are turned over to the Border Patrol.

Last month 106 illegal immigrants were detained on the post, compared to slightly more than 500 in March of last year, according to the MP figures.

Stevens said that since Oct. 1, 2005, through the end of last month 207,869 illegal immigrants were apprehended in the sector, compared to 222,795 for the same six-month period in the previous federal fiscal year.

As for the number taken into custody by agents at the three stations in the county for the first half of this budget year compared to the same period the previous financial year, the numbers are down — 47,428 and 97,385 respectively, Stevens said. The three Border Patrol Stations are Douglas, Naco and Willcox.

Figures provided by the fort MP officials also show a downward trend for the six-month periods of illegal immigrants detained.

So far this fiscal year 649 have been detained by post officials, compared to nearly 1,500 from Oct. 1, 2004, through March 31, 2005.

Deaths in the sector in the first six months of the fiscal year are down slightly, compared to the previous time period — 57 versus 60.

However, there has been a 44 percent increase in marijuana in the sector from Oct. 1, 2005, to the end of last month with 381,806 pounds confiscated, Stevens said. The amount for the previous six months was 251,736 pounds.

Last month, 61,050 pounds of marijuana was seized throughout the sector compared to 40,495 pounds in March 2005.

Like the reduction in illegal immigrants apprehended in the county, the amount of marijuana seized was down. Stevens said 1,964 pounds were confiscated last month in the county versus 5,540 pounds in March 2005.

[SandRat]

Some folks in this ping can really have some fun with this story.

[SteveMcKing]

We don't want "fewer" intruders our home. We want NONE.

[staytrue]

We don't want "fewer" intruders our home. We want NONE.

FYI, America is a home to those who want open borders as much as it is a home to those who want zero immigration. It is not exclusively yours.

Further, none is not an achievable goal. We will never have zero murders, zero rapes, zero red light traffic violations, etc. AND WE WILL NEVER HAVE ZERO ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSING. So get realist. Fewer is good.

[cripplecreek]

I would be considerably happier if illegal immigration would fall to levels equal with those illegally crossing from Canada.

It ain't perfect but a few thousand is better than millions.

[staytrue]

considering the US has about 20k murders per year, I think this would be a reasonable number of illegals.

even the iron curtain with mine fields, walls, barbed wire and machine gun nests had some leakage.

[SteveMcKing]

"FYI, America is a home to those who want open borders as much as it is a home to those who want zero immigration. It is not exclusively yours."

What either side wants is irrelevant. Until the law changes, they are indisputably illegal. In this respect the law is exclusively on my side.

"Further, none is not an achievable goal. We will never have zero murders, zero rapes, zero red light traffic violations, etc. AND WE WILL NEVER HAVE ZERO ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSING."

Okay, not zero then. "Nil" or "negligible"... that is achievable.

[stopem]

We want NO ILLEGAL"immigrants"! So don't use the open border lies calling them "immigrants" they aren't they are ILLEGAL invaders breaking our laws before, while, and after they sneak in!

For you who claim to want open borders is that for LEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO ENTER LEGALLY or are you saying criminals sneaking in illegally is what you open borders advocate?

[Moonman62]

We don't want "fewer" intruders our home. We want NONE.

That's why we need a fence. If they are catching 60,000, then 600,000 are getting through.

[KittyKares]

How odd. I have been hearing just the opposite -- that Mexicans here are telling their family and friends over there to come over now. Jim Gilchrist said they are swarming over here.

[KittyKares]

Oh, this is just one county.

[NewRomeTacitus]

Cochise is THE county when it comes to the invasion problem. I suspect that the government's embarrassed response to all the press this has received during the past year (sending in a variety of enforcement people and measures), plus the county being where most of the residing Minutemen are located year-round, has led the flow of illegals toward access points other than Cochise.

What's the word on that, SandRat?

[hdstmf]

The whole thing smells like spin machine CYA.

[SandRat]

Thanks to hedge trimmer, "How the governors of the border states work against the American people. Here is a website for you that shows some joint declarations with Mexico to lobby our government on behalf of Mexico."

http://www.agr.state.tx.us/border/activities/XXIII%20BGC%20Joint%20Declaration.htm

[SandRat]

HJ may have better intell on that than I.

[hedgetrimmer]

Here's more.

http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/factsheets/fs307004.html

They make no distinction between colonias in the US and colonias in Mexico.

The purpose of the Internet Map Services websites for selected cities along the US/Mexico border is to provide geographic and demographic base data to facilitate prioritization for community development and infrastructure investment to improve the living conditions for residents of the Colonias and surrounding areas. It includes the integration of existing bi-national geospatial, statistical, and demographic data and provides geographic analysis tools that will enhance the decision-making process of the city and county planning departments. Local government and non-profit agencies can employ this system to facilitate applying for grants to improve living conditions in the Colonias and other poverty-stricken areas. This project is sponsored by HUD.

[HiJinx]

Relativist Mathemetics Ping!

Hmmm....let me see...staytrue said that "...none is not an achievable goal...So get realist. Fewer is good."

And the Border Patrol spokeswoman says that "Last month, 63,574 illegal immigrants were apprehended throughout the Tucson Sector, compared to 63,803 in March 2005..."

Okay, yeah, that's fewer. By 229 people. Or a reduction of 4 tenths of one percent (0.4%) in the number of illegals apprehended. Or, a whopping 7 people per day less - 2058 per day last year and 2051 per day this year.

If that's your idea of fewer, you are one warped individual.

[HiJinx]

Kitty, the real truth is there, but it's almost written between the lines.

Here in Cochise County, where the minutemen were last year, the numbers have dropped quite a bit.

Over to the west of us in Pima County - also in the BP's Tucson Sector - is where the minutemen have set up and that is where the numbers of crossers is also up.

[HiJinx]

You're right on. As I just told kittykares, the traffic has diverted to the west and into New Mexico, and that's where the minutemen have set up this year.

DHS/ICE proved that increased enforcement and presence along the border does make a difference. Now it needs to be applied across the entire border.

I suggested to a Congressman yesterday that we fence the border using the military tactic of channelizing...seal portions that are not easily accesible by us, and leave the portions of the border we can cover easily open. Then, the illegals come straight to the BP. Fence 1500 miles, leave 500 miles open in 25-50 mile segments...and you're well on your way to reducing successful crossings to almost nothing.

[KittyKares]

I just saw this on another FR link:

In south-central Arizona, the busiest migrant-smuggling area, total detentions by the U.S. Border Patrol rose by more than 26 percent from Oct. 1, 2005, through early April, totaling 105,803 compared with 78,024 for the same period a year earlier. Along the entire border, arrests are up 9 percent in the same period.

Francisco Loureiro, the manager of an immigrant shelter in Nogales, Mexico, said that in March, 2,000 migrants stayed at the shelter -- 500 more than last year.

Loureiro said he has not seen such a rush of migrants since 1986, when the United States allowed 2.6 million illegal residents to get American citizenship.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1616211/posts