AP Exclusive: Border Patrol to toughen policy

By Elliot Spagat

Associated Press

Published: Tuesday, Jan. 17 2012 2:55 a.m. MST

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A Border Patrol agent passes a color-coded chart at a detention center Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012, in Imperial Beach, Calif. The Border Patrol is moving to end its revolving-door policy of turning migrants around to Mexico without any punishment in what amounted to an invitation to immediately try their luck again.

Gregory Bull, Associated Press

Summary

The U.S. Border Patrol is overhauling its approach on migrants caught illegally crossing the 1,954-mile border that the United States shares with Mexico.

SAN DIEGO — The U.S. Border Patrol is overhauling its approach on migrants caught illegally crossing the 1,954-mile border that the United States shares with Mexico.

Years of growth and new technology are enabling the federal agency to do more than send border-crossers back to Mexico after fingerprinting them, but without any punishment.

The new national strategy will be announced in weeks. It relies on programs already in effect in some areas, such as prosecution or transfer to a border city hundreds of miles before being sent back to Mexico.

A key portion is a new color-coded system that categorizes detained migrants based on their number of crossing attempts or criminal history. That's been in use in the patrol's busiest corridor for illegal crossings, and Tucson, Ariz., sector officials say it's working.

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