Despite spike, border arrests mostly steady year over year
Data from New Mexico make impact of National Guard troops on frontier unclear
Lawless.
That is how President Donald Trump described the southwestern border when calling for thousands of National Guard troops to head to the frontier.
But federal agents have reported apprehending fewer people crossing into New Mexico and West Texas over the last 12 months than during the previous one-year period.
In fact, the Border Patrol’s data and the experiences of local law enforcement point to a situation on New Mexico’s stretch of the border not all that different from the year before.
“It’s pretty much business as usual. We haven’t seen an increase in traffic,” said Kelly Jameson, a spokeswoman for the Doña Ana County Sheriff.
So, it is unclear what impact, if any, the deployment of National Guard troops has made.
And while the Trump administration defends as a deterrent its internationally denounced policy of splitting parents and children apprehended at the border, it remains to be seen whether the policy is at all having that effect or simply creating further havoc for families caught up in the immigration enforcement system.
To be sure, Border Patrol agents have reported apprehending a growing number of people each month crossing into the El Paso sector — the agency’s term for the New Mexico’s portion of the border and the westernmost tip of Texas.
In May, Border Patrol agents reported apprehending three times as many people crossing the border into this sector as in the same month of 2017.
But for the year as a whole, the numbers of people apprehended here are about in line if not a little below the year before.
From last June to the end of May, Border Patrol agents reported apprehending about 23,000 people crossing into the El Paso sector.
That is a decline from the preceding 12 months — June 2016 to May 2017 — when agents apprehended nearly 30,000 people in the sector.
The ebb and flow follow some patterns. The number of people crossing the border dropped markedly about a decade ago as the recession took hold and there was less work to be found. Numbers have risen in recent years, however, as residents of some Central American countries have fled worsening violence in their homelands.
Trump issued an order April 4 calling for a greater military presence on the border, and Gov. Susana Martinez had agreed to send up to 250 guard members.
How many New Mexico National Guard troops have been deployed or what exactly they are doing is unclear.
A spokesman referred questions to the Office of the Governor. And spokespeople for Martinez did not respond to The New Mexican’s request for an interview on Monday.
Officials have said from the outset that troops will provide operational support, not interact with migrants and others crossing the border.
Critics have said these deployments usually have been costly and not particularly effective, and it remains unclear how much all of this will cost.
Back in April, the Department of Defense projected the cost of mobilizing about 2,000 personnel at around $182 million through the end of the fiscal year in September. That was just a projection, however, and the department now plans to provide up to 4,000 National Guard troops on the border.
This is not the first time National Guard troops have gone to the border, though. Democratic President Barack Obama ordered up to 1,200 National Guard members to the frontier. In 2006, Republican President George W. Bush announced plans to send 6,000 National Guard troops to the border.
In Luna County, Sheriff Kelly Gannaway said he had not heard anything from the National Guard this time around.
But he said there has not been a noticeable difference around the border recently.
“It’s status quo,” he said.