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Federal immigration officials found 490 illegal immigrants in 37 drophouses in the Phoenix area last fiscal year, compared with 3,221 illegal immigrants found in 186 drophouses in the peak year, fiscal 2008, reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The number of drophouses discovered by law-enforcement agencies in the Valley has decreased significantly over the past four years, further indication, federal immigration enforcement officials say, human smuggling in Arizona is subsiding.
Matthew Allen, special agent in charge of ICE investigations for Arizona, attributed the decrease in smuggling activity in Arizona to an overall decrease in illegal immigration because of the weak U.S. economy, tighter border security, stepped-up immigration enforcement and tougher sentences imposed on smugglers who hold illegal immigrants hostage inside drophouses.
But while the number of drophouses discovered in the Phoenix area has decreased, there are signs some of the illegal immigration traffic might have moved from Arizona to the Rio Grande Valley at the southern tip of Texas, Allen said.
