Members of the National Guard worked along the border near Hidalgo, Texas. The number of illegal immigrants arrested at the border appears to be down by more than 25 percent this year.
(Delcia Lopez/File/Associated Press)
Arrests along Mexico border fall
Data indicate flow of illegal migrants is at 1970s levels
Members of the National Guard worked along the border near Hidalgo, Texas. The number of illegal immigrants arrested at the border appears to be down by more than 25 percent this year.
(Delcia Lopez/File/Associated Press)
Arrests of illegal migrants trying to cross the southern U.S. border have plummeted to levels not seen since the early 1970s, according to tallies released by the Department of Homeland Security last week, a historic shift that could reshape the debate over immigration reform. The Border Patrol apprehended 327,577 illegal crossers along the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2011, which ended in September, numbers not seen since Richard Nixon was president, and a precipitous drop from the peak in 2000 when 1.6 million unauthorized migrants were caught.
For more from BostonGlobe.com, sign up or log in below
To continue, please sign up or log in to BostonGlobe.com
Access the full articles and quality reporting of The Boston Globe at BostonGlobe.com
Sign up
Unlimited Access to BostonGlobe.com for 4 weeks for only 99¢.
Are you a Boston Globe home delivery subscriber?
Get FREE access as part of your print subscription.
BostonGlobe.com subscriber
Click to continue reading this article or to log in to BostonGlobe.com.
Waiting for Twitter to feed in the latest...