Immigration News 2014: Murders, Arrest Numbers Decrease Substantially At Arizona-Mexico Border
Undocumented immigrant arrests have decreased at the Arizona-Mexico border by 16 percent and reported deaths have plummeted by 40 percent in the current fiscal year, Fox News Latino reported.
Spokesman Andy Adame for Arizona's U.S. Border Patrol field office told Hispanic news publication Efe that the number of detainees decreased from 50,900 between Oct. 1 2012 and March 1, 2013, to 42,600 during the same time this year.
"We notice that far fewer immigrants are crossing the border," Adame said, adding, "particularly in the eastern desert region where we previously reported a large proportion of the deaths and rescues."
The agency's 40 percent drop in fatalities represents the reported decrease of 52 deaths in the 2013 fiscal year to 31 deaths this current fiscal year 2014.
Adame said that the decrease in deaths and arrests this year is because the amount of people attempting to cross the border has sharply plunged.
However, he said the Border Patrol has been seeing an unusual amount of undocumented minors from Guatemala trying to cross through the Arizona desert without their parents or elders.
"We're seeing very small kids traveling alone or with their mothers through some very dangerous places in the desert," Adame said.
Fearing that more minors will attempt to cross the border and travel the treacherous desert landscape, the Border Patrol has moved around some of its rescue towers in the desert to areas where they have found more incidents of deaths.
Adame also said that border's exceptionally hot summers could wreak havoc on the minors who are trying to cross through it.
Despite the drop in numbers, a bipartisan bill was introduced in the U.S. House last week that is aimed at improving the Customs and Border Protection and the Border Patrol's accountability, the Arizona Republic reported.
The bill also calls for more officer and agent training amid concerns and scrutiny over their use of firearms toward people crossing the border.