Border Patrol Sees Fewer Immigrants Near Deming

The U.S. Border Patrol says fewer immigrants are trying to cross the border along Southern New Mexico than tried last year.

Rick Moody, the agent in charge of the Deming Border Patrol station, said warmer weather has probably increased the traffic, “but we’re still down 60 percent overall, so that’s a good thing.”

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The Deming station has 280-plus agents, up from fewer than 100 a few years ago.

A total of 7,736 immigrants were captured in the Deming area from October 2006, the start of the federal fiscal year, through Monday, said Agent Patrick Berry of the El Paso sector office.

The figure is 61 percent lower than last year’s 19,949 immigrants in the corresponding period.

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The number of immigrants is down, Moody said, because more agents are in the Deming area and because the National Guard is helping the Border Patrol with surveillance.

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