Immigration Arrests Down, DHS Cites More Enforcement

"The U.S. Border Patrol apprehended 8 percent fewer illegal immigrants last fiscal year than the year before, reversing a two-year increase in the historically volatile benchmark, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced yesterday. Chertoff credited the drop of nearly 100,000 apprehensions largely to the Bush administration's strategy of deporting virtually all non-Mexican border crossers as fast as they are caught, deterring them and others in what had been the fastest-growing group of illegal immigrants," the Washington Post reported. "Analysts immediately disputed Chertoff's claim of an unprecedented decline in arrests. Border Patrol apprehensions have risen and fallen like a roller coaster over the years, peaking at almost 1.7 million in 2000 before bottoming out at 932,000 in 2003 . . . They said President Bush's aides are trying to placate conservative and other critics by citing progress in enforcement at the border. At the same time, the White House is continuing to push for a broader overhaul of immigration policy, including a temporary-worker program and a chance for 12 million illegal immigrants to earn citizenship, that is stalled in Congress."

Read the full story