WASHINGTON — Illegal immigration, which has sparked political and social turmoil in communities across the nation, is on the wane, according to an independent report released Thursday.

The number of illegal immigrants entering the United States has slowed significantly the past few years, falling below the number of those entering the country legally, according to the report by the Pew Hispanic Center, a Washington think tank.

The report estimates there were 11.9 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. as of March. That would be a decline of 500,000 from the center's estimate a year ago. However, the change was not statistically significant because of the large margins of error.

The Pew study does not address why the decrease occurred, but other researchers cite the nation's struggling economy and stepped up enforcement of immigration laws.

"The decline in job prospects in construction, service and other low-skilled jobs are communicated through extended networks of would-be movers from Mexico and Latin America," said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, another Washington think tank. "It also may propel more return migration."

Census data released last month showed that overall immigration slowed dramatically in 2007, though the Census Bureau does not distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants.

Illegal immigrants are notoriously difficult to count. Many researchers, including the federal government, estimate there are about 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. That's a big increase from the start of the decade, when the Pew Hispanic Center estimated there were about 8.5 million.

Continue reading the article by STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press, in the Douglas Dispatch

Border Patrol agents provided medical treatment Thursday and Friday to three illegal immigrants found in distress.

At 10:30 p.m. Thursday, about 500 feet east of the Douglas Port of Entry, agents spotted a man who had fallen from the border fence and hurt his knee, said Rob Daniels, the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector spokesman.

Agents called the Douglas Fire Department, and an ambulance took the man, 32, of Mexico to Southeast Arizona Medical Center in Douglas. He had substantial damage to his knee, and surgery was recommended, Daniels said. He was moved to St. Mary's Hospital in Tucson.

The other two incidents occurred on the Tohono O'odham Reservation. On Thursday at 9:30 p.m., a worker from a nursing home called Tohono O'odham police about a person in distress. Police contacted the Border Patrol, which sent an agent.

The agent found a man from Veracruz, Mexico, who said he had entered the country illegally and had been walking for eight days, Daniels said. He said he had run out of food and water. Agents determined he was severely dehydrated and took him to the hospital in Sells.

He was treated and released, then voluntarily returned.

The second rescue occurred Friday at 1:30 a.m. when a Border Patrol agent apprehended an 18-year Guatemalan who said he was lost in the desert, Daniels said. He was complaining of hunger and pain, and his feet were injured.

An emergency medical services team from Sells treated the man for his injuries and took him to the hospital in Sells for further treatment, Daniels said.

From October through August, agents in the Tucson Sector rescued 418 illegal immigrants in 127 incidents, down from 557 people in 178 incidents through the same time period last year, agency figures show.

This article is by Brady McCombs and was published in the Arizona Daily Star

A Tohono O'odham tribe member who has been putting water in remote desert areas for the past seven years for the benefit of illegal immigrants says he has been told to stop.

The order was given Saturday morning while Mike Wilson was southwest of Sells on the reservation showing 11 non-tribal guests one of the four water stations he operates, Wilson said.

A Tohono O'odham police officer approached Wilson and said the district chairwoman, Veronica Harvey, had instructed her to tell Wilson to take down the water station and escort his guests off the reservation, Wilson said. He didn't take down the two 55-gallon water barrels but left with his guests, he said.

Tohono O'odham Chairman Ned Norris Jr. confirmed Tuesday that Baboquivari District leaders asked Wilson and his guests to leave, but he said he has no knowledge of the request to remove the water station.
Phone calls to Harvey requesting comment were not returned.

The tribe has a standing decision not to allow humanitarian groups to place water on the reservation. Norris, who became chairman after that decision was made, has said the decision falls to the reservation's 11 districts because it's a matter of local concern. He said the same thing about the reported decision to ask Wilson and his guests to leave on Saturday.

"The tribal constitution authorizes each district to govern themselves on issues of local concern," Norris said.

"This, in their view, is an issue of local concern."

Wilson gave the following account of Saturday's events:
Early that morning, Wilson and the group were at one of his water stations east of the village of Topawa on Federal Route 10, commonly known as Fresnal Canyon Road. He was talking about the history of his work in maintaining the water stations to eight seminary students from Denver, their professor and two retired Tucson pastors, the Rev. John Fife and the Rev. Gene Lefebvre.

A tribal police officer drove up to the group and told Wilson that she had received a complaint about non-tribal members being in the Baboquivari District. She told him that the Baboquivari District is a restricted district, which means O'odham are required to notify the board and get permission before bringing in any non-tribal guests, the officer said.

Wilson said he had never heard of the rule.

Continue reading the article by Brady McCombs in the Arizona Daily Star

Five illegal immigrants were found dead Monday through Wednesday along Arizona's stretch of the U.S-Mexican border, the U.S. Border Patrol reported.

Border Patrol agents also carried out three notable rescues of illegal immigrants, including helping a woman six months pregnant who was dehydrated, said Rob Daniels, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman.
Four of the five bodies were found on the Tohono O'odham Reservation. Of the last 14 bodies recovered in the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, 12 have been found on the reservation.

The reservation, which stretches across 75 miles of border and is comparable in size to the state of Connecticut, has been a particularly deadly area for illegal immigrants in the past decade and home to the deadliest corridor.

An 18-mile-wide corridor on the eastern part of the reservation, running from Mexico north through Sells and bordered on the east by the Baboquivari Mountains, claimed the lives of 229 border crossers from November 1999 through mid-November 2007, the Arizona Daily Star found in an analysis of 1,156 deaths recorded by the Border Patrol.

That's more than three times the average number of deaths in other segments of the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector.

Most died of the heat.

Including Thursday, temperatures in Southern Arizona have hit or exceeded 100 degrees for 14 consecutive days, said Craig Shoemaker of the National Weather Service. It reached 107 degrees on Monday and Tuesday and 102 on Wednesday, weather service data show.

At least 19 illegal immigrants have been found dead in June, according to Border Patrol figures.

Two bodies were discovered Wednesday, one on Tuesday and two on Monday.

Continue reading the article by Brady McCombs in the Arizona Daily Star.

U.S. Border Patrol agents discovered seven bodies of suspected illegal immigrants in Arizona's desert from Friday through Sunday as the scorching summer heat raged on.

Nearly 60 others who were suffering from dehydration or lost were rescued.

Including Monday, temperatures in Southern Arizona have exceeded 105 degrees for nine straight days and exceeded 100 degrees for 10 consecutive days, said Bill Turnerof the National Weather Service. Saturday's high was 111 degrees and Friday's 109 degrees.

Agents found the bodies of two illegal immigrants Sunday, three Saturday and two on Friday, said Mike Scioli, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman.

Continue reading the article by Brady McCombs in the Arizona Daily Star