Clinton Orders Border Buildup at Nogales : Law enforcement: The rush move adds 62 agents after a dramatic increase in illegal immigrant arrests there.

President Clinton has directed the Border Patrol to rush 62 agents to the agency’s overwhelmed forces in Nogales, Ariz., where arrests of illegal immigrants jumped more than 50% last year, officials said Monday.

The additional agents are being reassigned from the Canadian border and inland stations in Arizona and California and will report to Nogales today. (The President’s unusual order responds to an increase in illegal immigration in Arizona attributed to Border Patrol crackdowns in San Diego and El Paso and, more recently, to a Mexican economic crisis caused by the devaluation of the peso, according to a statement issued by the White House press office Sunday.

“The Administration anticipated increases in illegal entries in Arizona this year . . . and is already training 100 new patrol agents to reinforce the Nogales border,” the White House statement said. “But illegal crossings increased so dramatically in January in the wake of the peso devaluation that more agents are needed now.”

The reinforcements are going to the Border Patrol’s volatile Tucson sector, which has about 280 agents. The sector experienced an increase in arrests of about 70% last month and 51% last year. Moreover, the Border Patrol contingent has been hit by a wave of violence and scandals in which agents have been charged or investigated on allegations of murder, rape and child molesting.

Although Mexican officials agree that border-crossing has increased in the Arizona corridor, human rights advocates and other critics of the Border Patrol say the agency has manipulated arrest statistics to exaggerate the problem and win resources for the Tucson sector. Agents say changes in deployment have led to more arrests, but say the surge in illegal immigration is genuine and results partly from a shift in the migratory flow away from California and Texas.

Clinton’s announcement is one of a series of moves his Administration has taken in the last year to promote a get-tough image on immigration. As part of that campaign, Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner Doris Meissner is expected to visit Nogales this week, officials said.