The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. December 13, 2011 Number of Immigrants Arrested on U.S.-Mexico Border Plummets to Lowest Level in Decades ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Wall Street Journal is reporting the number of immigrants arrested over the past year while attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border has plunged to the lowest level in 39 years. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the United States arrested just more than 340,000 migrants along the border in the last fiscal year — down 24 percent from the year before. In 2000, 1.6 million people were detained at the border. Factors contributing to the lower number include a steep decline in the birthrate in Mexico, the poor U.S. economy and stepped-up U.S. patrols along the border. .