A new fingerprint system in place for a year at some Border Patrol stations on the Mexico-Arizona border has helped agents catch more than 8,000 illegal entrants with criminal records or who are wanted for crimes, according to the Arizona Daily Star.  The Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System is used to register all the fingerprints of crossers the agency picks up.  It allows agents to cross check those prints with a nationwide FBI finger print database.  According to the article, there were 50,720 criminal deportations of foreigners nationwide and another 60,996 court-ordered removals to Mexico for other reasons in the last federal fiscal year.

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Portable vehicle barriers are proposed for the Arizona-Mexico border from the Baboquivari Mountains to the eastern slopes of the Huachuca Mountains, according to the Arizona Daily Star.  The Border Patrol is interested in building the temporary barriers as a way of cutting down on illegal vehicle crossings through the desert without infringing on wildlife corridors or water flows.  The Army Corps of Engineers is seeking public comment through August 9 on a 150-page environmental assessment report it prepared on these proposed portable vehicle barriers.