Prosecutions for 2008
Referring Agency: Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection
Number Year-to-date 39,713 Estimate for FY 2008 59,570 Count for FY 2007 30,171 Percent Change from previous year 97.4
Table 1: Criminal ProsecutionsThe latest available data from the Justice Department show that during the first eight months of FY 2008 the government reported 39,713 new prosecutions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Department of Homeland Security Custom and Border Protection. If this activity continues at the same pace, the annual total of prosecutions will be 59,570 for this fiscal year. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this estimate is up 97.4% over the past fiscal year when the number of prosecutions totaled 30,171.
The comparisons of the number of defendants charged with offenses are based on case-by-case information obtained by TRAC under the Freedom of Information Act from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (see Table 1).
The trend in prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of prosecutions of this type recorded each fiscal year. Projected figures for the current fiscal year are shown. Each presidential administration is distinguished by the color of the bars.
Because of organizational changes growing out of 9/11/01, consistent CBP enforcement trends only cover the last three fiscal years. The agency, now a part of the Department of Homeland Security, previously came under the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Leading Program Areas
Cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types. The single largest number of prosecutions of these matters through May 2008 was for "Immigration", accounting for 99.1 percent of prosecutions.
The second largest number of matters were Prosecutions filed under the program area of "Narcotics/Drugs " (0.3%) .
[The Department of Justice is withholding the program area for 0.2% of the cases. These matters are also included in the "Other" category. TRAC, in ongoing litigation, has challenged the government's withholding of program category information, winning a substantial victory in September 2006 decision. The government, however, has filed a notice of appeal which has stayed the order requiring it to release program information.]
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during the first eight months of FY 2008.
Note: There were an additional 34 other lead charges which were not individually ranked. See latest monthly report if you want all lead charges included in rankings for the latest month, or use TRACFED criminal analyzer tool for complete listing for any year.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1 yr ago 08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 27,164 1 1 More 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 9,056 2 2 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 1,990 3 3 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and 530 4 4 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 144 5 10 More 18 USC 0911 - False personification - Citizen of the US 143 6 5 More 18 USC 1001 - Fraud/false statements generally 139 7 9 More 18 USC 0002 - Aiding and Abetting 96 8 6 More Withheld by govt from TRAC (FOIA challenge pending) 64 9 7 More 21 USC 0841 - Drug Abuse Prevention + Control-Prohibited acts A 58 10 8 More
Table 2: Top charges filed
"Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc." (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 was ranked 1st a year ago
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Reentry of deported alien" under Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326. Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326 was ranked 2nd a year ago
Ranked 3rd was "Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" under Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324. Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324 was ranked 3rd a year ago
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest projected increase in prosecutions—up 223 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1546 that involves "Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and ".
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest projected decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 18.6 percent—was "Withheld by govt from TRAC (FOIA challenge pending) " (Title . U.S.C Section . ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
During FY 2007 the Justice Department said the government obtained 100.8 prosecutions for every one million people in the United States. If pace during the first eight months of FY 2008 continues at the same rate, prosecutions for one million people in the United States this year will be 199 . Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of prosecutions in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago Texas, W 3,061 11,717 1 5 More N Mexico 2,377 3,097 2 4 More Texas, S 2,219 11,838 3 2 More Arizona 2,132 8,764 4 1 More Cal, S 1,562 3,230 5 3 More N Dakota 85 36 6 6 More Vermont 65 27 7 7 More N. Y., W 60 113 8 9 More Fla, S 52 227 9 13 More N. Y., N 47 106 10 8 More
Table 3: Top 10 districts (per one million people)
The Western District of Texas (San Antonio)—with 3,060.98 prosecutions as compared with 199 prosecutions per one million people in the United States—was the most active through May 2008. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 5th a year ago
The District of New Mexico ranked 2nd. The District of New Mexico was ranked 4th a year ago
The Southern District of Texas (Houston) now ranks 3rd. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) was ranked 2nd a year ago
A recent entry to the top 10 list was Southern District of Florida (Miami), now ranked 9th. This district ranked 13th one year ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest projected growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago—699 percent—was Western District of Texas (San Antonio).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest projected drop in the rate of prosecutions—14.2 percent—was Vermont.
