Napolitano: US-Mexico border is safer than ever

EL PASO (AP) — U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano says security on the southern U.S. border is better than ever and that violence from neighbor Mexico hasn't spilled over in a serious way.

Napolitano spoke Thursday after a meeting in El Paso with Mayor John Cook and local businessmen. She said there is a need to correct wrong perceptions about the border region.

She said the Department of Homeland Security increased the number of border agents by 250 last year and expects to have 300 more under their next budget if it's approved.

Napolitano cited a reduction in the number of illegal immigrant detentions and an increase in trade as reasons to believe the situation in the border is better. In her words, "Numbers are in the right direction and dramatically so."