Efforts to bolster security are having an impact. Apprehensions are down so far this year, along the 125 miles of border in the Yuma, Ariz., sector alone. The 37,108 apprehensions the Border Patrol reports as of Aug. 31 represent a 68 percent decrease so far this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Deaths were also on the decline, from 40 in the last fiscal year, to 11 so far this year.

However, assaults on Border Patrol agents are up, says Miranda Weber, Border Patrol spokeswoman for the Yuma, Ariz., sector. She says they are "a sign of frustration by some smuggling organizations that are lashing out at our agents. We're hitting them in the pocketbook, and they're trying to get us to back down."

So far this year, some 185 attacks on agents have been reported. That's up about 10 percent over last year.

And interior enforcement has also been up in recent years, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement has focused on cracking down on criminal activities such as human smuggling and document mills, along with areas such as work site enforcement and locating fugitives who have ignored orders of deportation. ICE reports 174,776 removals of aliens as of July 23 of this year. Last year, the 197,117 removals were up 82 percent over 2000.

Weber says smugglers and bandits often are in cahoots, as smugglers tip off bandits to their crossing location. Many people who once crossed back and forth on the border are choosing to eliminate the risk by staying put.

Last time Maria crossed the border a decade ago, she was robbed at gunpoint. She hasn't returned since or seen her sister, who remains in Mexico.

It's too risky, she says. Here, she can provide for her children as a single mother, after leaving an abusive husband — something she says she likely wouldn't have dared in Mexico.

Maria, who has a fifth-grade education and speaks only Spanish, smiles broadly as she says her children are fluent in English and will hopefully all graduate from high school.

"I am here for my children," she says. "My children have a better opportunity."

For now, undocumented migrants like Maria remain hopeful that someday a federal reform will grant them legal status and the ability to cross the border without fear.

In recent years, the legal issues have prompted millions of undocumented immigrants and their supporters to protest publicly. It has also brought out activists against illegal immigration. Some U.S. residents have appointed themselves "minutemen" and have monitored the border, and immigration has become a hot talk-show topic.

A Senate immigration overhaul bill was quashed after loud opposition against its provision aimed at legalizing most of the nation's undocumented immigrants.

However, U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, remains hopeful that reform will happen. He says a lack of transparency in the process fueled the fire against the bill.

"Nobody saw it before it got to the Senate. Nobody made amendments available until they saw it on the floor," Cannon says.