New Mexico Immigration Prosecutions
Jumped 46% in FY 2013
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during the first eleven months of FY 2013 New Mexico had the fastest growth in criminal immigration prosecutions — a 45.7 percent jump — among the nation's 94 judicial districts. Second highest was the Western District of Texas with a 32.0 percent increase, followed closely by the Southern District of Texas where prosecutions were up by 24.0 percent.
In a curious contrast, immigration prosecutions declined in the two other districts along the southwest border with Mexico. The fall was sharpest for Arizona which had 21.6 fewer prosecutions last year than during FY 2012, while in the Southern District of California prosecutions fell by 13.3 percent.
Neither the office of Steven C. Yarborough, the U.S. Attorney in New Mexico nor Stephen P. McCue, the Federal Public Defender in that district, responded to a preliminary query about possible explanations for the enforcement surge.
The comparisons of the number of defendants charged with immigration-related offenses are based on case-by-case information obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) under the Freedom of Information Act from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys.
The National Picture
The country has seen 90,806 new immigration prosecutions through the first eleven months of FY 2013. If this activity continues at the same pace, the total criminal prosecutions for the year will reach 99,061 according to the case-by-case information analyzed by TRAC.
| Number Year-to-date | 90,806 |
|---|---|
| Percent Change from previous year | 7.7 |
| Percent Change from 5 years ago | 24.7 |
| Percent Change from 10 years ago | 376 |
| Percent Change from 20 years ago | 1446 |
Table 1. Criminal Immigration Prosecutions
Customs and Border Patrol was the lead investigative agency on over two thirds (71.9%) of these prosecutions. Almost all of the remainder of these prosecutions were the result of referrals by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Immigration and Customs Service.
Because of the offsetting trends along this border where most immigration prosecutions occur — three districts were up, two districts saw declines — there was an overall increase nationally of only 7.7 percent above the FY 2012 figure, when the number of prosecutions for the whole country totaled 91,941. See Table 1.
Compared to five years ago when there were 27,428, the estimate of FY 2013 prosecutions of this type is up 32.4 percent. Prosecutions over the past year are much higher than they were ten years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are up 468 percent from the level of 6,398 reported in 2003 and up 1518 percent from the level of 2,244 reported in 1993.
The long term trend in prosecutions for these matters going back to FY 1993 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.
Figure 1. Criminal Immigration Prosecutions over the Last 20 Years
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of immigration matters filed in U.S. District Court during the first eleven months of FY 2013. Note: There were an additional 97 other lead charges which were not individually ranked.
| Lead Charge | Count | Rank | 1 yr ago | 5 yrs ago | 10 yrs ago | 20 yrs ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08 USC 1325 — Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. | 50,683 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 08 USC 1326 — Reentry of deported alien | 34,365 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 08 USC 1324 — Bringing in and harboring certain aliens | 3,239 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 18 USC 1546 — Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents | 969 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| 18 USC 1544 — Misuse of passport | 347 | 5 | 6 | 13 | 14 | 16 |
| 18 USC 1028 — Fraud and related activity — id documents | 343 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 8 |
| 18 USC 911 — False personification — Citizen of the US | 149 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 |
| 18 USC 1542 — False statement in application and use of passport | 116 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 11 |
| 18 USC 371 — Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US | 71 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 7 |
| 18 USC 1001 — Fraud/false statements or entries generally | 63 | 10 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 6 |
Table 2. Top Charges Filed
The most frequently recorded lead charge was "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc." (Title 8 U.S.C. Section 1325). It was also ranked first one and five years ago. This statute was ranked second ten years ago and fourth twenty years ago.
Ranked second in frequency was the lead charge "Reentry of deported alien" under Title 8 U.S.C. Section 1326. This was ranked second one and five years ago. This statute was ranked first ten years and twenty years ago.
Ranked third was "Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" under Title 8 U.S.C. Section 1324. This statute was also ranked third one, five and ten years ago, and was ranked second twenty years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest projected increase in prosecutions — up 15.2 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 8 U.S.C. Section 1325 that involves "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc." This was the same statute that had the largest projected increase — 335 percent — when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest projected decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 41.3 percent — was "False personification - Citizen of the US" (Title 18 U.S.C. Section 911). This was the same statute that had the largest projected decrease — 81.2 percent — when compared with five years ago.
Additional District Details
Understandably, there is great variation in the number of immigration prosecutions in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts. The districts registering the largest number of prosecutions of this type during the first eleven months of FY 2013 are shown in Table 3.
| Judicial District | Count | Rank | 1yr ago | 5yrs ago | 10yrs ago | 20yrs ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas, S | 30,810 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Texas, W | 22,970 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Arizona | 21,163 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| N Mexico | 5,999 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| Cal, S | 3,277 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| Fla, S | 594 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 22 |
| Cal, C | 418 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 5 |
| Texas, N | 305 | 8 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 7 |
| Fla, M | 257 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 11 | 34 |
| Cal, E | 251 | 10 | 9 | 12 | 7 | 6 |
Table 3. Top 10 Districts
The Southern District of Texas (Houston) — with 30,810 prosecutions — was the most active through August 2013. This district was ranked second a year ago, while it was ranked first five years ago. The district's position was first ten years ago and fourth twenty years ago.
The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked second. This district was ranked third a year ago, while it was ranked second five years ago. The district's position was second ten years and twenty years ago.
The District of Arizona now ranks third. It was ranked first a year ago, while it was ranked third five years ago. The district's position ten years ago was fourth; twenty years ago it ranked third.
A recent entry to the top 10 list was the Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth), now ranked eighth. This district ranked twelfth one year ago and ninth five years ago.
Compared to 10 years ago, the Middle District of Florida (Tampa) now ranked in the top 10 did not appear in the top ten.
And compared to 20 years ago, the Southern District of Florida (Miami) and the Middle District of Florida (Tampa) were not sufficiently active to then make the top 10.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest projected growth in immigration prosecutions compared to one year ago — 45.7 percent — was New Mexico. Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest projected growth — 46.8 percent — was Arizona.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest projected drop in immigration prosecutions — 23.5 percent — was Central District of California (Los Angeles).