Putting TRAC to Work
  Legal and Scholarly
Global Detention Project Programme for the Study of Global Migration
August 2010

Immigration Detention and the Law: U.S. Policy and Legal Framework A Global Detention Project Working Paper


b. Criminal Immigration Laws at the Federal Level The United States has been steadily criminalizing immigration laws, while increasing the severity of penalties for non-citizens who violate immigration laws. According to DOJ data analyzed by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, overall federal criminal prosecutions in FY 2009 increased by 9 percent from FY 2008 and 42 percent from FY 2004. “The major factor driving the overall increase has been the sharp rise in individuals prosecuted for immigration offenses. Last year immigration prosecutions jumped 15.7 percent—from 79,431 during FY 2008 to 91,899 in FY 2009.” Immigration prosecutions now make up more than 50 percent of all federal criminal filings.103


Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, Syracuse University
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