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Need for Immigration Reform Unchanged Despite Fewer Crossings

Newspaper Contributors

2009-03-17

Authorities say there are many fewer illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border than there used to be. It's a significant turn of events. But let's not mistake it for a solution to our immigration problem.

The U.S. Border Patrol recently reported that arrests along the U.S.-Mexico border in the last five months were down 24 percent from the same period last year. From October 2008 to February 2009, the Border Patrol says it arrested 195,399 illegal immigrants. At that rate, the total number of apprehensions by the end of the federal fiscal year could be about 550,000. And that, says the Border Patrol, would be the lowest level of arrests since 1975. Immigration experts say the main reason for the steep drop-off in apprehensions was the terrible U.S. economy, along with stepped-up enforcement at the border.

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