The number of illegal border crossings in the so-called Tucson sector held steady as the coronavirus outbreak swept into the United States and Mexico. But now they may be trending downward.
Border Patrol Agent Joe Curran said 5,100 people passed through custody in February. Then there were slightly less in March.
“From what I’ve seen the past couple weeks, I would say our apprehensions and encounters with illegal border crossers are trending down. But that’s on a very acute basis. And we’ll have to wait until the numbers come out in about two weeks from now to really make that determination,” he said.
Curran said people caught by the Border Patrol are being quickly brought to the nearest port of entry, where agents check if they have a criminal history, and send them back to Mexico.
