Number of illegal immigrant transfers are up
El Centro, CA--The number of illegal border crosser s arrested and trying to regain entry through the Desert Southwest has dropped.
On the ground, U.S. Border Patrol agents use century-old tracking skills to find illegal border crossers.
Most illegal immigrants know footprints can give them away.
While news 13 was taking a tour of the border with El Centro sector agents, 3 men were caught illegally crossing the border from Mexicali.
"The idea is to not leave any prints because they check the roads and this way our prints will hardly be seen," one illegal immigrant said.
We're told they use different tactics hoping not to get caught.
Agents said they will walk in the same steps of other people in front of them, walk backwards, they'll crawl or they'll brush away their footprints with branches.
One method used, agents say makes it even more difficult to detect is when they glue big sponges to the soles of their shoes.
Agents said the group of men, will most likely be transferred to other sectors along the southwest border like San Diego or Texas and then sent back to Mexico.
For these men that takes them farther away from their home, being they're from Sinaloa and Guadalajara.
Agents said they do this as part of the Alien Transfer Exit Progam which started in 2008.
"It breaks the cycle of smuggling. So what were trying to do is break away the people that entered the U.S. from a smuggling organization that facilitated their entry here into the U.S., Agent Adrian Corona, of the El Centro sector said.
Recently, the number of transfers have skyrocketed for all 7 participating sectors including Yuma and El Centro.
For this current fiscal year, border patrol's el centro sector have transferred 2,100 illegal immigrants to other ports.
Its a big jump from last years when 741 illegals were transferred.
Despite the increase of transfers, the number of illegal immigrants returning have decreased.
According to statistics, 3 out of 10 illegal immigrants try their fate at crossing the border again.
"They can either be federally prosecuted for re-entering country illegally or they can be subject to ATEP," Corona said.
As for the Yuma sector, aside from the ATEP program, if an illegal border crosser is caught they face jail time no matter what.
Yuma sector stats show as of July 31st of this fiscal year about 870 illegal immigrants arrested were transferred to either Nogales or Calexico.
That's about a 50 percent jump from the number transferred in 2010.
"We are seeing a couple of different things, number one it could be the amount of people who are coming in to the Yuma sector actually fit the program, more males in ages of 20 thru 60 who never been apprehended before whereas in the past it may not have been the case," Agent Robert Lowry of the Yuma sector said. "We might have been apprehending individuals more frequently because we didn't have operation streamline or ATEP in place."
Agents said a common misconception is that illegals caught, with or without criminal history, are dropped off back into Mexico in the middle of the night or that agents are separating families.
However, some illegal border crossers aren't easily discouraged by the program.
They said they're just looking to provide a better lifestyle for them and their families.
"Life is tough in Mexico, we're trying to make ends meet," an illegal immigrant said. "We don't come here to steal or do anything bad. We are working people, we come to work during harvest. We don't have any criminal records or anything like that."
When illegal immigrants are transferred to other ports, agents say Mexican immigration officials gain custody of the illegal immigrants.
In some cases, they're given funds to return to their point of origin or state.
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