From U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP):

CBP’s 2011 Fiscal Year in Review

(Monday, December 12, 2011)

….U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions-a key indicator of illegal immigration-decreased to 340,252 in FY 2011, down 53 percent since FY 2008 and one fifth of what they were at their peak in FY 2000….

….CBP officers and agents seized nearly five million pounds of narcotics, a 20 percent increase from FY 2010 and more than $126 million in undeclared currency…..

….CBP has more than doubled the size of the Border Patrol since 2004. In FY 2011, CBP increased the number of Border Patrol agents to 21,444, an increase of 886 agents from FY 2010, making our borders better staffed today than ever before. In addition, CBP employed 20,500 CBP officers in FY 2011 with additional officers expected to be on board by the end of the Calendar Year….

[emphasis added]

The actual statistics:

United States Border Patrol

Total Illegal Alien Apprehensions By Fiscal Year [pdf]

1999 1,579,010

2000 1,676,438

2001 1,266,214

2002 955,310

2003 931,557

2004 1,160,395

2005 1,189,075

2006 1,089,092

2007 876,704

2008 723,825

2009 556,041

2010 463,382

2011 340,252

Apprehensions are down because there are fewer illegal immigrants trying to get in, for one reason or another.

Today, via Twitter:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler ‏@RepHartzler

Following the #SCOTUS decision on #AZ immigration, we realize more that our government must enforce immigration laws and protect our borders 2:12 PM – 26 Jun 12

Yep, late to the parade. And, as Yael Abouhalkah wrote almost two years ago, still vacuous.