Declining numbers of immigration arrests are not a sign that the federal government is backing off on border patrol enforcement, but rather another indication of how bad the U.S. economy is doing these days. According to the Migration Information Source, Department of Homeland Security officials arrested about 800,000 people in 2008, the lowest total since 1975. A drop in apprehensions was noticeable from just 2007 to last year, when Customs and Border Protection officers and others made 170,000 fewer arrests.