Border apprehensions of illegal immigration down again in county

By Jonathan Clark/Herald Review
Published/Last Modified on Thursday, September 7, 2006 12:05 PM MDT


TUCSON - Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal immigrants in Cochise County were down 32 percent to 5,996 last month as compared with August 2005, the agency's Tucson Sector reported Wednesday.


The figure suggests a continued decline in local illegal border crossings since the start of the year, although August's drop in apprehensions was less significant than the 50 and 48 percent declines registered in June and July, respectively.

The Border Patrol attributes the decline in local apprehensions to a buildup of manpower and technology in the area, once a focal point for illegal entry into the United States.

According to Tucson Sector spokesman Sean King, Cochise County's three Border Patrol stations in Naco, Douglas and Willcox counted a combined total of 699 agents on Oct. 1, 2002. By Oct. 1, 2005, that number had risen to 964.

In terms of disrupting drug trafficking, the Border Patrol confiscated 1,327 pounds of marijuana in Cochise County last month as compared with 3,319 pounds in August 2005, King said.

However, in the entire Tucson Sector, which includes all but the state's westernmost border areas, marijuana confiscations are up 30 percent in the current fiscal year.

Many of the drug busts occur in the western desert area around the Tohono O'odham Nation, where traffickers have shown a reluctance to abandon traditional smuggling routes, King said.

Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal immigrants in the Tucson Sector as a whole were down 20 percent to 23,233 in August.

Copyright © 2012 Douglas Dispatch

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