Immigration Prosecutions for February 2009
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2009 the government reported 8179 new immigration prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 22% 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 2009 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (91.8 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 251.1 percent from levels reported in 2004.
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 53.9 percent instead of 251.1 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 February 2009 (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 February 2009, 73 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 February 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 65.7 percent of all magistrate filings in February.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "8 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (27.3%).
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 February 2009.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 8 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,597 1 1 1 More 8 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 299 2 2 2 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 136 3 4 4 More 8 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 105 4 3 3 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 22 5 5 9 More 18 USC 1001 - Fraud/false statements or entries generally 19 6 7 5 More 18 USC 1542 - False statement in application and use of passport 14 7 6 7 More 18 USC 911 - False personification - Citizen of the US 12 8 8 6 More 18 USC 1544 - Misuse of passport 9 9 9 15 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 7 10 11 8 More 18 USC 1543 - Forgery or false use of passport 7 10 9 10 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 "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 4 a year ago, while it was the 4 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 65.8 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 911 that involves " False personification - Citizen of the US ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—235.4 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 45.2 percent—was Misuse of passport (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1544 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 36.4 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 552 1 1 1 More Texas, W 340 2 2 4 More Cal, S 265 3 3 3 More N Mexico 192 4 5 5 More Arizona 186 5 4 2 More Fla, S 64 6 7 7 More Puer Rico 54 7 8 20 More Cal, E 43 8 11 13 More Fla, M 42 9 9 16 More N. Y., N 42 9 15 10 More
Table 3: Top 10 districts
The Southern District of Texas (Houston)—with 552 prosecutions—was the most active during February 2009. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 five years ago.
Southern District of California (San Diego) is now ranking 3rd. The Southern District of California (San Diego) was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of California (Sacramento), now ranked 8th , and Northern District of New York (Syracuse) at 9th In the same order, these districts ranked 11th and 15th one year ago and 13th and 10th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in immigration prosecutions compared to one year ago— 58.5 percent—was Eastern District of California (Sacramento). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 140.5 percent—was Western District of Texas (San Antonio).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in immigration prosecutions— 39.1 percent—was Puerto Rico . But over the past five years, Arizona showed the largest drop— 15.1 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 February 2009 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 111 1 1 3 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 101 2 5 - More Kazen, George P. Texas, S 90 3 4 4 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 78 4 3 10 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 67 5 2 11 More Tagle, Hilda G. Texas, S 53 6 6 12 More Hanen, Andrew S. Texas, S 52 7 7 13 More Briones, David Texas, W 44 8 11 16 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 42 9 9 14 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 41 10 10 17 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 Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico ranked 1st with 111 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Brack appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1) and five years ago (rank 3).
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 5).
Judge George P. Kazen in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 90 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Kazen appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 4) and five years ago (rank 4).
