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TUCSON - The threat of illegal immigrants crossing the U.S. Border is less of a problem now than in the last 40 years, with apprehensions dropping by more than 25 percent since last year, Border Patrol officials said in a press conference this morning.

Apprehensions by Border Patrol agents are at their lowest levels since the Nixon era, according to unofficial statistics released by the agency this morning.

In 2010, Border patrol apprehended 448,000 illegal immigrants on the Southwest border, copared with 327,500 in 2011 - a drop of more than 25 percent.

Border Patrol officials at the press conference says this decline is a result of both increased law enforcenment at the border, and the economic turmoil in the United States.

News 4 Tucson's Lupita Murillo will have more on this story this evening.