Because there was no effective way to measure how many aliens actually crossed the border, reported results were limited essentially to the number of apprehensions. Initially apprehensions at Imperial Beach Station increased, and numbers were higher than on the same dates one year earlier.10 The INS and the Border Patrol attributed this rise to increased effectiveness, reflecting the immediate impact of increased manpower and the new deployment. As time passed apprehension numbers at Imperial Beach began to fall, while apprehension numbers at stations further east began to rise. This development suggested that some illegal crossers had abandoned Imperial Beach and shifted their entry efforts to stations further east. Sounds to me like it was a deterrent. Now, if we had it stretching across the ENTIRE Southern border, and we actually DEPORTED illegals that are already here--say, as soon as they commit so much as a misdemeanor--wouldn't our flow of illegals dry up considerably?