Photos: A new surge in illegal immigration?

A Texas National Guard helicopter flies over Laredo on Nov. 13. Gov. Rick Perry sent the guard to the border to reinforce the U.S. Border Patrol. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Nov. 21, 2014 2:26 PM PT

At what was once the epicenter of the crisis, in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, the flow of immigrants has slowed dramatically. Some people fear President Obama’s executive action this week could spark a new surge of those hoping to enter the country illegally.

The Rio Grande river separates Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, right, and Laredo, Texas. The Texas National Guard and the U.S. Border Patrol both patrol the area. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A border agent and a helicopter search a sugar cane field for immigrants outside McAllen, Texas. Four people were apprehended. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A border agent looks across the Rio Grande near Laredo, Texas. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A border agent picks up a photograph left behind at the Rio Grande. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A 17-year-old Guatemalan is removed from a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle south of McAllen, Texas. Although immigration from Central America has increased, the overall number of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally is at its lowest in more than a decade.

(Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Today mostly young men are crossing the border from Mexico into Texas. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)