An immigration bill being written in the U.S. Senate aims to clamp down on illegal crossings along the southwestern border with Mexico while maintaining a 13-year timetable for existing illegal residents to win citizenship. The idea is to create tough law-and-order provisions that backers could argue would finally fix a porous U.S. border, as well as keeping foreigners who have obtained visas from overstaying them. The irony at present is that, despite the longstanding anti-immigrant hysteria in the U.S., net migration from Mexico to the U.S. has fallen likely below zero. Here, TIME looks at U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents at work along the U.S.-Mexico border at the end of March 2013.
On Patrol Along the U.S.-Mexico Border
Mike Blake / REUTERS
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents patrol along the border between Mexico and the United States near San Diego, California, March 26, 2013.
