Arrests of Illegal Aliens Top 400,000 in S.D. in ’84

U.S. Border Patrol agents operating in and around San Diego County apprehended more than 400,000 suspected illegal aliens during 1984, a slight decrease from the record number of arrests made in 1983, the Border Patrol reported Monday.

The approximately 550 agents stationed in the San Diego sector, which includes all of San Diego County and parts of Imperial and Orange counties, had arrested 403,083 aliens as of Sunday. An additional 600 arrests were expected to be logged by midnight Monday.

In 1983, agents apprehended 431,964 illegal aliens--more than in any other year since agents actively began patroling the border.

The approximately 7% decline was attributed, in part, to what agents believe are improved job opportunities for undocumented workers in the Los Angeles area.

“We think that because of the fact that they are getting jobs in Los Angeles, some (undocumented workers) don’t have to keep coming back through here every few months,” said Mike Williams, deputy chief patrol agent of the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector. “It’s possible that many of them are staying, meaning that there are fewer of them re-entering and being captured.”

Augmented in 1983

Williams said he also believes that the 1983 arrest figure was greater because local agents were temporarily bolstered by a force of 100 additional patrolmen. Those agents were brought in from other Border Patrol stations across the country when it appeared that the influx of aliens was increasing.

Williams said that Congress in 1984 authorized funding for 850 new agents to be stationed along the U.S.-Mexican border. Of that number, 239 agents are to be based in the San Diego sector. Twenty-four new patrolmen have been arriving each month since October, Williams said.

Based on Border Patrol projections for 1985, the additional manpower may prove essential.

Williams noted that more than 9,000 illegal aliens were apprehended in December by agents operating out of the Border Patrol’s substation at Brown Field. Agents at the 6-year-old station have never had a busier December, he said.

Traditionally, locally based agents experience a surge of alien arrests between January and March. But in 1985, Williams said, indications are that the surge will come sooner and in greater numbers.

“I think we could be in for a very busy year,” he said.