Border Arrests Approach Record, Pre-Immigration-Law Levels

U.S. Border Patrol agents in San Diego recorded nearly 250,000 arrests of undocumented immigrants during the first six months of the current fiscal year, approaching the record levels of five years ago that sparked a national outcry and prompted Congress to enact sweeping legislation aimed at reducing illicit entries.

Federal authorities say the escalating numbers of arrests, which have been surging for more than two years, are the strongest indicator that illegal immigration from Mexico continues to rise, largely propelled by the paucity of economic opportunity south of the border and the comparatively high wages that can be earned on U.S. territory.

“We’ve still got that negative economic situation in Mexico,” noted Gustavo de la Vina, chief Border Patrol agent in San Diego, where a 12-mile strip of international frontier is considered the most concentrated illicit crossing zone along the almost-2,000-mile-long U.S.-Mexico boundary line.

Illegal immigration has figured only tangentially in current high-profile efforts to seek a free-trade agreement among Mexico, the United States and Canada, but last week Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari said in Texas that such an accord could ease the problem by creating new jobs in Mexico.

Others have questioned that assertion, pointing out that the proliferation of mostly U.S.-owned assembly plants in Tijuana and other Mexican border areas has done little to reduce the illicit flow--and may actually have encouraged the movement by drawing families to the border zone.

In seeking to stem the flow of illegal immigrants, U.S. authorities have relied largely on enforcement techniques, such as border guards, and fines and other penalties against U.S. employers who hire illegal immigrants.

However, critics in the United States and Mexico have argued that such enforcement strategies are doomed to fail in view of the great economic disparity between the two nations and the great demand for immigrant labor in the United States.

San Diego-based Border Patrol agents are making about 1,830 arrests daily of unauthorized immigrants, mostly after dark. Although those numbers include multiple offenders who are counted again and again, officials have estimated that agents catch only one of every three immigrants who attempt to cross the border illegally. Most of those apprehended are quickly sent back to Mexico and often attempt the illegal entry anew.

Contributing to the problem of illegal crossings, say De la Vina and others, is the ready availability of counterfeit identification documents in California and other immigrant destinations, enabling bearers to find work.

The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act--passed by Congress in the wake of what many termed an “invasion” of border-jumpers--attempted to reduce the undocumented alien job market by making it illegal to hire unauthorized foreigners. But studies have shown that job seekers have had little problem overcoming this barrier, often by purchasing forged or stolen paperwork and presenting it to employers.

Although authorities say illegal immigration is increasingly a year-round phenomenon, the March-August period, with its promise of employment in agriculture, tourism and other seasonal industries, has long been a particularly busy time. And early 1991 has been especially active, authorities say.

On March 10, in fact, Border Patrol agents in San Diego recorded 4,154 arrests--a new single-day record. Greatly contributing to that day’s output, said Ted Swofford, a Border Patrol supervisory agent in San Diego, was the posting of additional officers on overtime pay.

Because of the huge volume of illicit immigration into the San Diego area, officials acknowledge that any increased deployment of agents will quickly translate into additional arrests. During peak times, when border hillsides and canyons are often filled with would-be immigrants, authorities say, staffing shortages are the only brake on arrests.

“There is a point at which, generally speaking, a certain number of agents can only catch a certain number of aliens,” Swofford said.

The 1986 immigration law also called for a 50% increase in Border Patrol staffing, but Congress has never met that costly goal. There are now about 720 Border Patrol agents on duty in the San Diego area, about the same as five years ago, Swofford said.

The Border Patrol’s 242,412 arrests in the San Diego area during the first half of fiscal 1991 (between Oct. 1, 1990, and March 31, 1991) represent a 12.3% increase over the corresponding period during 1989-90. The latest number is the second-highest ever, officials say, after the record 270,926 arrested during the first six months of fiscal 1986.

And U.S. officials say arrests might have been considerably higher this year had not an unexpected factor--the Persian Gulf War--intervened.

Both legal and illegal movement along the U.S.-Mexico border declined for several weeks beginning in mid-January, officials say, after the outbreak of hostilities in the Gulf. The Mexican media disseminated apocryphal accounts of anticipated warfare in the United States and the likely conscription of Latino immigrants, apparently causing some to delay their journeys north.

About 99% of those arrested in the San Diego area are Mexican citizens, officials say. The number of undocumented Central Americans apprehended in the U.S. border area has been declining steadily for more than a year, authorities say, since Mexican immigration officials embarked on a nationwide crackdown on Central Americans who traverse Mexico en route to the United States.

However, experts say the ever-expanding numbers of Mexican immigrants have more than compensated for the decline in Central Americans arriving at the border. A decade ago, Mexican immigrants were widely viewed as mostly single, male job seekers from poor rural areas, who planned to remain only temporarily in the United States.

But recent studies have shown that the heterogenous mix of newcomers arriving from Mexico includes growing numbers of city dwellers, well-educated professionals, women and children--who often cross the border illicitly alongside the rural campesinos most identified with the migration. Many new immigrants plan to stay permanently in the United States, contrary to the widespread perception of a mostly seasonal migration.

Arrests By U.S. Border Patrol Agents Based in San Diego All figures are for first six months of fiscal years. (Oct.1-March 31) ‘91: 242,412 ‘86: 270,926 Note: San Diego-based agents patrol all of San Diego County and parts of southernOrange and Riverside counties. Source: U.S. Border Patrol