Some $13 million may be spent returning illegal immigrants closer to their homes.

LUKE TURF

On top of more than $10 million committed to a new plan to try to control the U.S. border in Arizona this summer, $13 million could be spent sending Mexicans caught sneaking into the country back closer to home.
The estimate came from a Homeland Security Department official who was in Tucson yesterday with an update on the Arizona Border Control program.

The plan's targeted operational date was Tuesday but parts of it remain to be initiated, such as transporting illegal immigrants away from the Arizona desert and out of smugglers' hands.

"This is a work in progress," said Asa Hutchinson, U.S. undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security.

Hutchinson said negotiations are ongoing with the Mexican government for returning its citizens closer to home. U.S. officials hope that deters them from trying to cross the border again.

Though unmanned aerial vehicles for surveillance are not in place as planned, four more helicopters are flying along the border, Hutchinson said.

At least 60 Border Patrol agents scheduled for temporary duty have arrived in the Tucson sector. Another 200 permanent agents have not, said Border Patrol spokesman Andy Adame.

Adame blamed administrative holdups for the delay. The arrival of the additional agents would bring the tally in the sector to about 2,200.

Four of six new assistant prosecutor positions aimed at increasing prosecutions of border crimes including smuggling have not been funded, said Sandy Raynor, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Raynor said one assistant has been hired and one of the positions was altered to allow for the hiring of two support staffers.

Hutchinson offered anecdotal evidence of success, but said it is too early to judge the border-control plan's effectiveness.

More than 150,000 immigrants have been caught in the sector since the program was announced in March, he said.

That's almost double the rate during the period in 2003.

More relief for Border Patrol came when Hutchinson lifted a federal limit on overtime for agents working in special operations units, including Search, Trauma and Rescue agents.

Adame said removing the overtime limit allows rescue agents to keep working without worrying about reaching the federal $30,000 annual limit.

Hutchinson said suspected illegal immigrant rescues have reached 274 this fiscal year, compared with 44 in the same period last year.

Besides higher apprehensions, Hutchinson cited a decrease in suspected immigrant deaths in a 121-mile desert stretch between Sasabe and the Yuma County line, where most of last year's deaths occurred.

Deaths in the area, west of Tucson and east of Yuma, are down to 22 from 31 this time last year.

Sectorwide, Border Patrol reports 44 deaths for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1, up from 38 this time last year.

However, in the same period, medical examiners in Pima and Cochise counties report more than 80 people died crossing the border.