Fewer immigrants caught at state border
By ZACHARY FRANZ • August 9, 2009

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The number of illegal immigrants caught trying to get into Montana has fallen dramatically in recent years, according to a Border Patrol spokesman.



In the Border Patrol's Havre Sector, which extends across most of Montana's border with Canada, agents caught 427 people who were trying to get into the United States without documentation in the 2008 fiscal year, said Mike Emge, public affair officer for the sector.

That's down from 948 undocumented immigrants apprehended in the sector during the 2005 fiscal year, a 55 percent drop in four years.

Each year since 2005, the number has fallen. This year is on pace to continue that trend. In the first three-quarters of fiscal year 2009, which ends Sept. 30, Havre Sector agents caught 249 undocumented immigrants. At that pace, the fiscal year total will come to 332.

The Border Patrol is a division of the Department of Homeland Security. It is often confused with Customs and Border Protection, which is also part of Homeland Security. The difference is Customs and Border Protection is responsible for the nation's ports of entry, while the Border Patrol monitors the border between ports.

The Havre Sector runs from the Continental Divide in Montana west to the North Dakota state line. It includes 452 miles of U.S./Canadian border.

The rest of Montana's northern border is part of the Border Patrol's Spokane Sector. Officials could not isolate figures for the Montana section of that sector.

Those undocumented immigrants caught by Border Patrol agents were apprehended trying to cross the border between ports either on foot or by car, Emge said. Others were caught on trains, and some were arrested after being referred to Border Patrol by other agencies, he said.

Trends
Montana's numbers are consistent with the national trend, but defy the rest of the northern border.

Nationally, illegal immigrant apprehensions by Border Patrol agents have also fallen in recent years, from about 1.19 million in FY2005 to about 724,000 in FY2008, a 39 percent decrease.


The northern border, on the other hand, has actually seen a slight increase in that time and a growing — but still miniscule — share of the nation's illegal immigration. The 7,923 illegal immigrants caught on the northern border in the last fiscal year represented 1.1 percent of the nation's total, up from a .06 percent share a few years earlier.



Explanations

There are two major explanations generally offered for the falling numbers, said Marc Rosenblum, senior policy analyst for the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

"The two candidates for what's going on are mainly the economy and increased enforcement," he said.

It's hard to say which of those factors has had the bigger impact, because they've largely overlapped, Rosenblum said.

History suggests the economic decline is at least partly responsible, he said.

"We know in the past that undocumented immigration has been very responsive to economic conditions in the United States," he said.

However, the decline started before the economy turned sour, indicating stepped-up enforcement likely played a role, too.

Since 2006, Border Patrol has hired an additional 11,000 agents, Emge said. The lion's share of those agents have gone to the southern border, but the Havre Sector has also seen an increase in personnel — from 100 agents in 2005 to 142 agents in July 2009.

Emge believes infrastructure, particularly fencing, cameras and stadium-style lights on sections of the southern border, is also making an impact.

"The border patrol has invested huge amounts in the people and the technologies, and it seems to be paying off," he said.

Because of those measures, would-be illegal immigrants know they're more likely to get caught trying to get into the country, and some decide it's not worth the risk, Emge said.

"More enforcement is a deterrent, because they know the likelihood of their apprehension is way up," he said.




Reach Tribune Staff Writer Zachary Franz at zfranz@greatfallstribune.com.


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