Border Patrol Arrests Down; Third Year Drop

Since 2005, arrests by the US Border Patrol have dropped annually. For 2006, the drop was 8%; for 2007, arrests dropped another 20%. For the first six months of 2008, the drop is 17%. You probably won't read this in US media; I found it in this week's Economist.

Will this deflate the issue of illegal immigration come November?

One of the best lines: "The Department of Homeland Security is budgeting $12 billion in the net fiscal year to guard the frontier against job-seekers (and the odd mythical terrorist walking to his target). If trends continue, we'll arrest about 600,000 this year; that's about $20K per arrest.

See Immigration Fence Delayed, US Immigration As A Percent of Population, Poll: Does immigration have a positive or negative impact on the US?