"They did catch groups of 4 to 5 illegal aliens a few times today, nothing like the numbers we normally see around here."
Could it be that the Mexican Army is directing people away from this area, telling them to cross elswhere?
That is very possible. In the past you've been able to observe Mexican Army directing the illegals just across the border. There's a compound of buildings just across the border that we call "The Corrals" where we see Mexican Army and illegals all the time. I've been shown video tape of armed soldiers in the Mexican Army shepherding illegals right up near the border road and then motioning them to get down and shushing them when Border Patrol vehicles were approaching on the road. They would get them up and moving when the vehicle passed and back down again when another vehicle would approach. They did not know they were being observed.
It is quite possible that some of the illegals picked up yesterday have been in the mountains or camping on the trails and entered before the project's operations started. I predict that the numbers will dwindle throughout the month.