Border Patrol officials say from October of last year through March of this year, arrests of people trying to cross illegally -- including those who smuggle drugs and humans -- are down nine percent.
For the past two months, Border Patrol agents have focused their enforcement efforts on a 60 mile section of the San Diego-Mexico border known as the central corridor.
Darryl Griffen heads the San Diego Border Patrol Sector. He says the strategy known as Operation Block Island has yielded results.
Griffen : We affected over 4,900 arrests, 58 vehicle seizures. The U.S. Attorney's office -- and I want to compliment them -- they accepted for prosecution 44 cases over a 60-day period. This included smugglers, foot guides and criminal aliens.
Drug seizures were down dramatically, according to Border Patrol officials. They report that the amount of cocaine smuggled dropped 99 percent during the five-month period. Marijuana smuggling fell 47 percent.
Griffen says, however, marijuana seizures are up elsewhere along the U.S.-Mexico border. He also appeared to downplay the significance of the drug statistics. He said criminal cartels will find a way to continue their work.
Griffen : It’s a business. As a result, they’re profit driven. They'll continue to seek and probe and test us to identify our vulnerabilities so they can traffic their cargo along the border with its human cargo, narcotics or contraband.
Meanwhile, border patrol union leaders say the agency is playing politics with their statistics. The lower numbers, they say, don’t reflect a sound strategy.
Union leaders say agents are being forced to stay in fixed positions along the border rather than pursue people who are seen crossing illegally and chase vehicles carrying drugs. Griffen neither confirmed nor denied that politics influenced the numbers.
Griffen : There may be many factors contributing to this but I can assure you that one factor is simply our strengthened enforcement posture along the southwest border.
Operation Block Island is expected to continue indefinitely.
