COLUMBUS, N.M. (AP) – The Border Patrol credits fencing in southern Luna County and more agents for a significant drop in undocumented immigrants caught in the county.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection says apprehensions of immigrants decreased about 67% when the fence was completed along the border at Santa Teresa. Two phases were finished in May.
The agency also says that after a pedestrian fence went in near the Columbus port of entry, apprehensions within that 6-mile corridor dropped more than 60% from 2007 to 2008.
It says no narcotics were seized in the corridor at all during the period.
The Border Patrol’s El Paso, Texas, sector is building 80 miles of vehicle fencing in New Mexico and 56 miles of pedestrian fencing in New Mexico and Texas.
Harold