Citizen Wire Services

WASHINGTON - Illegal immigration appears to be declining as the United States takes better control of its borders, the head of the Customs and Border Protection Bureau said yesterday.
Arrests of illegal immigrants have been declining in recent years, and those figures generally serve as a measuring stick for estimating illegal entries, said Commissioner Robert Bonner.

"We are, I believe, getting control over our border," Bonner told the Senate Appropriations subcommittee for homeland security.

Last year, the Border Patrol logged 931,557 arrests. That compares with 955,310 in 2002 and 1.3 million in 2001.

Since October, however, arrests have been rising, to 502,000 over roughly the past six months, compared with 426,853 during the same period a year ago.