Immigration Prosecutions for December 2008
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during December 2008 the government reported 7397 new immigration prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 6.8% over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants charged with 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 2008 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (123.6 percent). Prosecutions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are up 312.1 percent from levels reported in 2003.
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 prosecutions is 53.5 percent instead of 312.1 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 prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of immigration prosecutions of this type recorded on a month-to-month basis. 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 prosecutions for immigration offenses in December 2008 (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 Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In December 2008, 67 percent of immigration cases for these matters took place in U.S. Magistrate Courts which handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called "petty offenses." In the magistrate courts in December 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 67.4 percent of all magistrate filings in December.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "8 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (26%).
Immigration Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
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 December 2008.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 8 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,706 1 1 1 More 8 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 259 2 2 2 More 8 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 192 3 3 3 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 133 4 4 4 More 18 USC 1001 - Fraud/false statements or entries generally 31 5 8 6 More 18 USC 911 - False personification - Citizen of the US 17 6 6 5 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 17 6 5 11 More 18 USC 1542 - False statement in application and use of passport 15 8 7 7 More 18 USC 1543 - Forgery or false use of passport 9 9 10 10 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 6 10 14 13 More
Table 2: Top charges filed
"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 the 1 most frequently invoked 5 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 the 2 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Ranked 3rd was "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc." under Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325. "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc." under Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was the 3 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 220.8 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1001 that involves " Fraud/false statements or entries generally ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—316.1 percent—was registered for prosecutions under " Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1546 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 18.2 percent—was Firearms; Unlawful acts (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 46.6 percent—was for filings where the lead charge was " False statement in application and use of passport " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1542 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
Understandably, there is great variation in the number of immigration prosecutions that are filed in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of prosecutions of this type last month are shown in Table 3.
Judicial District Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Texas, S 591 1 1 1 More Cal, S 364 2 3 2 More Texas, W 360 3 2 5 More Arizona 206 4 4 3 More N Mexico 198 5 5 4 More Cal, C 81 6 6 6 More N. Y., S 59 7 17 21 More Fla, S 58 8 7 7 More Cal, N 33 9 16 19 More Virg, E 29 10 13 15 More
Table 3: Top 10 districts
The Southern District of Texas (Houston)—with 591 prosecutions—was the most active during December 2008. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
The Southern District of California (San Diego) ranked 2nd. The Southern District of California (San Diego) was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
Western District of Texas (San Antonio) is now ranking 3rd. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria), now ranked 10th , and Northern District of California (San Francisco) at 9th In the same order, these districts ranked 13th and 16th one year ago and 15th and 19th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in immigration prosecutions compared to one year ago— 115.6 percent—was Southern District of New York (Manhattan). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 160 percent—was Western District of Texas (San Antonio).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in immigration prosecutions— 5.2 percent—was Central District of California (Los Angeles). But over the past five years, Arizona showed the largest drop— 6.1 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 of this type during December 2008 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Kazen, George P. Texas, S 114 1 2 4 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 101 2 3 - More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 75 3 4 6 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 67 4 5 5 More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 60 5 1 2 More Briones, David Texas, W 60 5 9 15 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 57 7 11 25 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 57 7 10 23 More Hanen, Andrew S. Texas, S 55 9 7 12 More Martinez, Philip Ray Texas, W 49 10 8 14 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 filings .
Judge George P. Kazen in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 1st with 114 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Kazen appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 2) and five years ago (rank 4).
Judge Micaela Alvarez in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 2nd with 101 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Alvarezalso 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 75 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Hinojosa appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 4) and five years ago (rank 6).
