Immigration Prosecutions for February 2010
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2010 the government reported 6355 new immigration prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 12.8% 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 2010 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-14.3 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 163.8 percent from levels reported in 2005.
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 28.9 percent instead of 163.8 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. 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 prosecutions for immigration offenses in February 2010 (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 2010, 5494 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 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 55.1 percent of all magistrate filings in February.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "8 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (36.8%).
Immigration Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In February 2010, 861 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during February there were an additional 1258 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 February.
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 2010.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 8 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,664 1 1 1 More 8 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 96 3 4 4 More 8 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 52 4 3 3 More 18 USC 1544 - Misuse of passport 28 5 11 10 More 18 USC 911 - False personification - Citizen of the US 16 6 5 5 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 12 7 14 13 More 18 USC 1542 - False statement in application and use of passport 11 8 8 9 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 9 9 9 12 More 18 USC 1001 - Fraud/false statements or entries generally 8 10 6 7 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 316.7 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1544 that involves " Misuse of passport ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase—233.3 %—when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 62.7 percent—was Fraud/false statements or entries generally (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1001 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease— 58.1 %—when compared with five years ago.
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.
The Western District of Texas (San Antonio)—with 423 prosecutions—was the most active during February 2010. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
The Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 2nd. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 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 4 five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Middle District of Florida (Tampa), now ranked 10th , and Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria) at 9th In the same order, these districts ranked 11th and 12th one year ago and 8th and 21st five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in immigration prosecutions compared to one year ago— 33.1 percent—was Arizona . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 120.4 percent—was Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in immigration prosecutions— 25.2 percent—was Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria). But over the past five years, Central District of California (Los Angeles) showed the largest drop— 35.3 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 2010 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 101 1 1 3 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 83 2 2 8 More Kazen, George P. Texas, S 78 3 3 1 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 51 4 5 10 More Briones, David Texas, W 49 5 7 12 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 45 6 10 11 More Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 44 7 14 29 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 43 8 9 9 More Tagle, Hilda G. Texas, S 42 9 8 4 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 40 10 4 7 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 101 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 83 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Alvarez appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 2) and five years ago (rank 8).
Judge George P. Kazen in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 78 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Kazen appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 3) and five years ago (rank 1).
