The chief of the United States Border Patrol, Michael Fisher, told a Senate hearing today that his agency has developed a new system to measure not just how many undocumented immigrants the Patrol has apprehended, but how many it hasn’t. …

Chief Fisher surprised the committee, including Sen. John McCain, when he said, “We want to know how many people come across the border and of that number, how many people do we either apprehend or turn back?”

Senator McCain shot back, “So have you developed the metrics and the standards or not?”

Fisher answered that they have, to which the Arizona senator questioned if the agency was using them.

“Well, it is in the final stages of development, Senator. I can tell you that,” Fisher replied.

Until now, the Border Patrol had only used the number of apprehensions and then projected how many undocumented got away.

Chief Fisher also told the Senate Committee for Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs that illegal immigration has risen 13% this year. The Border Patrol attributes that to an improving economy in the United States and more available jobs.