The nominee for Brownsville. in gazens district. has been awaiting approval since 1995. Here in Laredo. Kazens criminal docket has increased more than 20 percent over last year. "We have a docket." he said. "that can be tripled probably at the drop of a hat. * ** The Border Patrol people. the Customs peoe. pie at the (international] bridges will tell you. they dont catch a tenth of who is going through. The more checkpoints you man. the more troops you have at the bridges. will necessarily mean more stops and more busts." And many more arrests are expected. the result of an unprecedented focus on policing the U.S..Mexico border. Earlier this year. Clinton unveiled a S367 million program for the Southwest for fiscal 1998. beginning Oct. 1. that includes hiring 500 new Border Patrol agents. 277 Inspectors for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. 96 Drug Enforcement Administration agents and 70 PHI1 agents. In Kazans territory. the number of Border Patrol agents already has swollen dramatically. from 347 officers assigned to the Laredo area in fiscal 1993 to 411 officers In fiscal 1996. More tellingly. In 1993. agents in the Laredo sector arrested more than 82.000 people on cocaine. marijuana and Illegal immigration charges. By 1916. arrests had soared to nearly 132.000. according to data supplied by the INS. All or which Is keeping Kazan and the other Judges here hopping. "I dont know what the answer is." said U.S.
Keywords matched
Naturalization Illegal immigration Border Patrol Immigration