Immigration Convictions for April 2012
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during April 2012 the government reported 7996 new immigration convictions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 5.6% over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants convicted for immigration-related 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)
When monthly 2012 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was up (10.8 percent). Convictions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that convictions of this type are up 156.1 percent from levels reported in 2007.
The substantial growth in these cases is partly related to increases in the matters filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. If magistrate cases are excluded and only Federal District Court cases are counted, the overall increase in immigration convictions is 64.7 percent instead of 156.1 percent. The evidence suggests that part of the difference may be the result of improvements in the recording of the magistrate cases by the Justice Department.
The increase from the levels five years ago in immigration convictions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of immigration convictions of this type recorded on a month-to-month basis. Where a prosecution was initially filed in U.S. Magistrate Court and then transferred to the U.S. District Court, the magistrate filing date was used since this provides an earlier indicator of actual trends. The superimposed line on the bars plots the six-month moving average so that natural fluctuations are smoothed out. The one and five-year rates of change in Table 1 and in the sections that follow are all based upon this six-month moving average. To view trends year-by-year rather than month-by-month, see TRAC's annual report series for a broader picture.
Virtually all federal criminal convictions for immigration offenses in April 2012 (99 percent) were referred by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The two lead investigative agencies in DHS are Customs and Border Protection (CBP) whose border patrol agencies guard the county's borders, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), responsible for conducting most immigration criminal investigations under the immigration laws. See Figure 2.
Immigration Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In April 2012, 6049 defendants in immigration cases for these matters were filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. These courts handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called "petty offenses." In addition, complaints are sometimes filed in the magistrate courts before an indictment or information is entered. In these cases, the matter starts in the magistrate courts and later moves to the district court where subsequent proceedings take place.
In the magistrate courts in April the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 involving the "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc.". This was the lead charge for 73.3 percent of all magistrate convictions in April.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (25%).
Immigration Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In April 2012, 1947 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during April there were an additional 0 defendants whose cases moved from the magistrate courts to the U.S. district courts after an indictment or information was filed. The sections which follow cover both sets of cases and therefore cover all matters filed in district court during April.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of immigration matters filed in U.S. District Court during April 2012.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,547 1 1 1 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 206 2 2 2 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 61 3 3 4 More 08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 52 4 4 3 More 18 USC 1544 - Misuse of passport 15 5 6 13 More 18 USC 911 - False personification - Citizen of the US 14 6 5 5 More 18 USC 1542 - False statement in application and use of passport 9 7 7 8 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 7 8 8 10 More 18 USC 1203 - Kidnapping - Hostage taking 5 9 - 16 More 18 USC 1001 - Fraud/false statements or entries generally 4 10 10 7 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 4 10 12 11 More Table 2: Top charges for convictions
"Reentry of deported alien" (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Reentry of deported alien" (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" under Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324. "Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" under Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1546. "Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1546 was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in convictions—up 54.5 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 21 U.S.C Section 841 that involves " Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—820 percent—was registered for convictions under " Misuse of passport " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1544 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago—down 28.8 percent—was False personification - Citizen of the US (Title 18 U.S.C Section 911 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in convictions— 58.5 percent—was for convictions where the lead charge was " Fraud/false statements or entries generally " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1001 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
Understandably, there is great variation in the number of immigration convictions in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of convictions of this type last month are shown in Table 3.
Judicial District Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Texas, W 364 1 2 2 More Cal, S 284 2 4 5 More Arizona 281 3 3 3 More Texas, S 280 4 1 1 More N Mexico 137 5 5 4 More Cal, C 55 6 6 9 More Fla, S 49 7 8 6 More Cal, E 43 8 8 16 More Oregon 26 9 13 10 More Colorado 22 10 16 18 More Table 3: Top 10 districts
The Western District of Texas (San Antonio)—with 364 convictions—was the most active during April 2012. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 for most frequent use five years ago.
The Southern District of California (San Diego) ranked 2nd. The Southern District of California (San Diego) was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 for most frequent use five years ago.
District of Arizona is now ranking 3rd. The District of Arizona was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Oregon , now ranked 9th , and Colorado at 10th In the same order, these districts ranked 13th and 16th one year ago and 10th and 18th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in immigration convictions compared to one year ago— 30.9 percent—was Western District of Texas (San Antonio). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 202.3 percent—was Arizona .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in immigration convictions— 32.1 percent—was Southern District of Texas (Houston). But over the past five years, showed the largest drop— percent.
Top Ranked District Judges
At any one time, there are about 680 federal District Court judges working in the United States. The judges recorded with the largest number of new immigration crime cases resulting in convictions of this type during April 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 100 1 5 1 More Moses, Alia Texas, W 83 2 3 - More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 55 3 6 10 More Briones, David Texas, W 54 4 11 7 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 47 5 13 11 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 42 6 2 2 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 40 7 4 8 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 39 8 10 12 More Martinez, Philip Ray Texas, W 30 9 14 9 More Sammartino, Janis Lynn Cal, S 27 10 37 - More Table 4: Top 10 judges
All 10 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of immigration convictions .
Judge Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico ranked 1st with 100 convicted in immigration convictions. Judge Brack appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 5) and five years ago (rank 1).
Judge Alia Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 83 convicted in immigration convictions. Judge Mosesalso appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago(ranked 3).
Judge Ricardo H. Hinojosa in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 55 convicted in immigration convictions. Judge Hinojosa appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 6) and five years ago (rank 10).
Report Generated: July 9, 2012
