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This is news from Latino USA. Hundreds of Border Patrol agents lined up along 20 miles of the El Paso Juarez international border line in around the clock operation being dubbed Operation Blockade. Luis Saenz reports.

Go ahead and move between the two cement bridges, see if we can cover both of those areas.

As helicopters fly over the Rio Grande, one can see Border Patrol units about every hundred yards. This is Operation Blockade. A strategy which Border Patrol Chief Sylvester Reyes says will cut down on the number of illegal entries into the US. Reyes says that the operation may also cut down on crimes committed along the US Mexico border.

First thing that people want to do, particularly in this community is blame undocumented workers, illegal aliens for all the troubles of the area. This will give us a good solid gauge to judge that.

Martin Sanchez is with the Border Rights Coalition, an umbrella group of immigration rights activists who are concerned about the increase of Border Patrol activity.

Blocking of the border has created an ambiance of terror, I think on some people's minds, particularly people who work on this side of the border.

About 50 yards from where agents are looking through binoculars, a group of women carrying children are wading across the Rio Grande from Mexico. One of the women says the blockade hasn't affected her personally.

Bueno mira, yo con mio yo no lo siento tanto como los hombres que pasan a trabajar, ¿verdad?

She says it is hard for the men who cross to work. She asks, are the Americans now going to do the work that is done by Mexicans? She says she has the patience to wait until the blockade is over, but not everyone is patient. Recently, Mexican workers staged a protest on the international bridges, halting traffic for several hours. But for the Border Patrol, Operation Blockade is doing what it's set out to do. Officials say the number of arrests of undocumented immigrants has dropped by 90%. For Latino USA I'm Luis Saenz in El Paso, Texas.