Illegal Migrant Arrests Down in U.S.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent patrols along the fence line of the U.S.-Mexico border in Nogales, Ariz., on Thursday, April 6, 2006. Lawmakers in Washington are debating immigration reform measures. Arrests of illegal migrants along the U.S.-Mexican border have dropped by more than a third since U.S. National Guard troops started helping with border security, suggesting that fewer people may be trying to cross. "The presence of the National Guard has had a big impact on migrants," he told The Associated Press on Tuesday Dec. 26, 2006. (AP Photo/Khampha Bouaphanh) (Khampha Bouaphanh - AP)

Added to that, smugglers have increased their fees, charging as much as $3,000 to hide migrants in their cars and drive them across the border. Before the National Guard troops arrived, the price was about $2,000, migrant activists say.

Still, border experts say the downturn may be temporary while smugglers search for new routes and migrants come up with the money to pay the higher fees.

Edgar Velasquez acknowledges it's become tougher to cross. He spent three days walking in freezing temperatures through the remote mountain country west of Tucson, Ariz., and still was caught.

Agents found a body in those mountains Dec. 19. But that did not deter Velasquez, who said he planned to slip across the Arizona border during the holiday week when he hoped the U.S. patrols will be short-handed as agents take vacations.

"I imagine they also want to be with their families," said Velasquez, resting in the border city of Nogales before embarking on his illegal odyssey to reach a construction job in Florida.

Gustavo Soto, a spokesman with the U.S. Border Patrol Tucson sector, said smugglers often tell migrants there are less border agents out in the desert on holidays or when the weather is bad, "even though we have surveillance on the border 24/7" and 365 days a year.

Some migrants are simply giving up after a single try, something that was almost unheard of only a few years ago.

Esther Ardia walked for nearly three days as temperatures dropped to 14 degrees in the Arizona desert, trying to get back to her job at a North Carolina pine tree farm.

Ardia, 21, couldn't keep up with the group of about 30 illegal migrants and was abandoned by her smuggler after her legs cramped up. She was picked up by the Border Patrol and returned to Mexico.

"I knew it would be hard, but I thought I could make it," said Ardia. "It's very hard. I'm not going to try (to cross) again."

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Associated Press Writer Ioan Grillo contributed to this report from Mexico City.

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U.S. Border Patrol: http://www.cbp.gov