The Las Cruces Sun-News reports (http://bit.ly/yPEq3T) that ranchers on New Mexico's border praised this week the Southwestern Border Security Task Force for the dramatic drop in border arrests in just six years.
In 2005, government figures show that 122,679 people were arrested trying to enter illegally through the El Paso Sector, which includes New Mexico. Last year, only 10,345 were apprehended
in the same area - a more than 90 percent drop.
James Johnson, a rancher near Columbus, says he hadn't seen illegal border traffic this quiet in 30 years.
The task force is made up of a coalition of local and federal authorities.