By Mary Jordan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, May 24, 2002; Page A27

JACUME, Mexico, May 23 -- The number of Mexicans caught trying to cross the border illegally has fallen to levels not seen since the early 1990s, the beginning of a decade-long surge that brought millions of illegal immigrants into the United States.

In 2000, more than 1.6 million people were apprehended on the U.S.-Mexican border, the highest number ever recorded. That number dropped to 1.2 million last year. It's on target to fall below 1 million this fiscal year, according to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. About 526,000 people have been picked up between Oct. 1, 2001, and April 30, half the number of those apprehended during that period two years before.

The apprehension figures, considered a key measure for gauging the number of migrants trying to enter the United States, suggest an ebbing of what had been a relentless flow of people from Mexico and Central America

Fewer jobs in the United States, along with increased air and land patrols on the border following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have discouraged many people from attempting to cross, according to migrants interviewed in this desert border post, 50 miles east of Tijuana. Some also cite TV commercials aired in Mexico stating that one migrant a day dies while trying to cross the border.

INS Commissioner James W. Ziglar said in a telephone interview that he believed this was part of a long-term trend. "It probably will never rise to the level it was," he said.               [ Continue.......... ]