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U.S. attorneys prosecuted 5,999 people for immigration offenses in New Mexico during the first 11 months of fiscal 2013, according to a report by the nonpartisan Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, which collects data on border security efforts.
The TRAC report provided the percentage increase and this year’s number, but did not include the number from last year upon which the percentage increase was based. The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not provide numbers of prosecutions for either year.
“Although the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico cannot vouch for TRAC’s methodology, it acknowledges a significant increase in the number of immigration cases it prosecuted during fiscal year 2013 as compared with fiscal year 2012,” the office said in a statement.
When prosecutions tick up the way New Mexico’s have, “usually it’s a change in policy,” said Susan Long, a statistician and co-director of TRAC. “This is a big shift for New Mexico.”
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