Assaults on Border Patrol agents drop again; nearly all cases occur on Southwest border

PHOENIX – Assaults against U.S. Border Patrol agents have dropped again even as apprehensions of immigrants illegally crossing the border increase.

The Arizona Republic (http://goo.gl/HRTW27 ) reports that figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol's parent agency, show there were 373 assaults against agents in the 2014 fiscal year. That's down 20 percent from the previous year and two-thirds from 2008.

Meanwhile, apprehensions of people crossing the border illegally were up 16 percent from the previous year.

Nearly all the assaults occurred along the Southwest border. The Border Patrol's Tucson sector in Arizona had 99 assaults, the most of any sector, but that number was down 37 percent from the previous year.