Arrests of Illegal Aliens Fall Despite Unabated Crunch at Border

Arrests of illegal aliens in the San Diego area are down by 12% this year, but U.S. immigration authorities at the nation’s busiest border crossing say there has been no letup in the flow of illegal immigrants since passage of the new immigration law.

Rather, officials attribute the recent decline in apprehensions here--the third consecutive month in which arrests have dropped--to a relatively little-noticed provision in the new immigration law that makes it more difficult to arrest illegal aliens who are engaged in farm and ranch work. The measure requires that immigration authorities obtain search warrants--or the owners’ permission--before entering many agricultural concerns to question workers.

“We’re seeing as many aliens entering the border area as we have in the past,” said Gene Smithburg, assistant chief U.S. Border Patrol agent for the San Diego sector, which covers 66 miles of heavily traversed border terrain dividing California from the Mexican state of Baja California.

Elsewhere along the 1,900-mile U.S.-Mexico border, particularly in Texas, immigration authorities noting declines in apprehensions of 25% or more have suggested that passage of the new bill may have dissuaded aliens from entering the country illegally. President Reagan signed the sweeping new law into effect on Nov. 6.

Some U.S. officials have theorized, for instance, that would-be illegal immigrants from Mexico may believe that a central provision of the new law--legal sanctions against employers who hire illegal aliens--may have made it more difficult to find work in the United States. Another theory is that many illegal aliens who traditionally return home to Mexico for the holidays may have remained in the United States this season so as not to interrupt their “continuous” residence in the United States; applicants under the so-called amnesty provisions of the new law must demonstrate such unbroken U.S. residence.

“There may be some reluctance for people to depart and then attempt to re-enter illegally,” said Duke Austin, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Washington.

Others say that much different factors--such as unusually cold weather and flooding along the Rio Grande, as well as the economic downturn in Texas--may better account for the reduction elsewhere.

However, none of these seem to be deterring aliens from entering the San Diego area, which accounted for more than one-third of the record 1.7 million illegal aliens arrested along the border in the last fiscal year. San Diego is a primary entry point for foreigners seeking to reach the economically vibrant areas of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Despite the 12% decline in apprehensions here, Smithburg said that unusually large numbers of illegal aliens have been spotted recently in heavily agricultural North San Diego County--a longtime magnet for illegal aliens seeking farm labor jobs.

“Our agents working in North County report (seeing) more illegal aliens than they’ve ever seen up there,” Smithburg said.

But because the new legal restraints on agricultural raids have provided undocumented farm workers with a measure of protection, he said, it has been more difficult to arrest aliens in North San Diego County. Border Patrol officials are awaiting new guidelines from Washington before resuming raids on farms and ranches and seeking search warrants.

The requirement that officials obtain search warrants or the owners’ permission before entering agricultural concerns was included in the immigration bill at the insistence of the growers’ lobby, which has long sought such a restriction. Immigration authorities have vigorously opposed the proposal, but its inclusion was seen as important in allaying the fears of growers already facing the loss of the large illegal alien work force.

In recent years, U.S. authorities have used the spiraling numbers of apprehensions of illegal aliens as proof of the so-called “invasion” of illegal aliens from Mexico and other nations. However, others have questioned the validity of the numbers, noting that the figures may vary widely depending on Border Patrol staffing levels and enforcement techniques.