US Border Patrol sends more agents to South Texas

CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — The U.S. Border Patrol has shifted more than 100 agents from California and Arizona to the southernmost tip of Texas, its busiest sector for illegal immigration.

The agency announced Wednesday that the temporarily assigned agents had arrived this week. The length of their stay is not set, said Border Patrol spokesman Danny Tirado.

While arrests of immigrants entering the U.S. illegally have stabilized or fallen at other parts of the U.S.-Mexico border, they've soared in South Texas, driven in large part by immigrants from Central America.

Last year, the Border Patrol made more than 154,000 arrests in the sector, an increase of 58 percent from the previous year.

The sector has already made more than 95,000 arrests midway through this fiscal year and seized more than 300,000 pounds (136,080 kilograms) of marijuana.

Nearly 3,100 Border Patrol agents were assigned to the region last fiscal year.