FOUR STATES SHARE NEW BORDER AGENTS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Texas and Arizona will get most of 1,000 new Border
Patrol agents this year, the Immigration and Naturalization Service
announced.

The INS said Tuesday that Texas will get 625 new agents, followed by Arizona
with 190 new agents, California with 140 and New Mexico, 46.

INS Commissioner Doris Meissner said California is getting fewer new agents
this year because a manpower buildup there the past four years has
diminished its border with Mexico as being the biggest corridor of illegal
immigrants. She said the number of illegal aliens arrested in southern
California hit a 17-year low last year.

``The Texas corridor is now the corridor that we're focusing on from the
standpoint of building that up to a level where we hope we see it and
Arizona equal in results what we've seen in the San Diego sector,'' she
said. ``It's a multi-year process.''

By year's end, the Border Patrol will have than 7,000 agents -- double the
number five years ago.

With the new reinforcements, Texas will have 2,957 Border Patrol agents and
California 2,688.