We Don T Even Try To Get Across Anymore.

But to Reyes, the record number of apprehensions reflected failure rather than success. He believed it made far more sense to stop the undocumented at the border than to chase them, in cat-and-mouse fashion, after they were already here. So he coaxed $300,000 out of Washington to deploy a human wall of 400 agents along a 20-mile stretch between El Paso and neighboring Juarez. The money quickly ran out, but Reyes continued his blockade by bringing in agents from as far away as Albuquerque. ““I told them I didn’t care if they ever arrested another undocumented alien as long as they kept them out,’’ he says.

Operation Hold the Line, now a year old, has cut the number of illegals crossing daily from 8,000 to fewer than 1,000. Apprehensions have plummeted 72 percent; auto thefts, which police partly attribute to aliens, have dropped 30 percent. Apparently more Mexicans are staying at jobs on their side of the border; the turnover at Juarez’s American-owned assembly plants has fallen sharply. ““We don’t even try to get across anymore because it’s too hard,’’ says Onesima, 16, who was forced to seek an assembly job when she couldn’t get to work as a maid in New Mexico.

The idea of halting would-be illegals at the border has won support from Texas Governor-elect George W. Bush and Latino groups like the National Council of La Raza, who argue that it is far more humane and effective than California’s Proposition 187. ““187 is important in pointing out how frustrated people are, but I think it unnecessarily fuels a lot of controversy . . . and gives the impression that people are anti-immigrant,’’ says Reyes, a third-generation Mexican-American. ““It makes much more sense to give the proper resources to border enforcement.’’ The blockade is also backed by 85 percent of El Paso’s residents; many have friends and relatives in Juarez but say they feel safer with fewer desperate aliens disrupting their neighborhoods.

The Clinton administration too is enthusiastic about border deterrence. In the last two years it has increased INS appropriations by about $225 million, much of which is going for 1,000 new agents, steel fences, helicopters, lights, sensors and night-vision scopes along the Southwestern border. Two months ago, the INS began Operation Gatekeeper to reinforce the border near San Diego. It recently unveiled plans for Operation Safeguard in Arizona, in part because the crackdowns in El Paso and San Diego appear to be diverting record numbers of aliens to that area.

Some critics worry about the militarization of the border; others say agents easily grow bored, and lax, simply watching for illegals from highly conspicuous jeeps. Marcos, a 30-year-old from Juarez, spent two months walking the El Paso line and found some penetrable spots. But he now risks crossing only once a month instead of once a week; he’s been caught three times since the operation began. ““You’re never going to completely seal the border,’’ Reyes admits. But by dissuading most from trying to cross, he’s proven it can be brought under control.