Immigration Prosecutions for July 2011
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during July 2011 the government reported 6248 new immigration prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 20.4% 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 2011 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-5.4 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 138.8 percent from levels reported in 2006.
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 41.5 percent instead of 138.8 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 July 2011 (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 July 2011, 5227 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 July 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 56.2 percent of all magistrate filings in July.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (37.4%).
Immigration Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In July 2011, 1021 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during July there were an additional 1404 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 July.
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 July 2011.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,940 1 1 1 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 224 2 2 2 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 110 3 3 4 More 08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 40 4 4 3 More 18 USC 911 - False personification - Citizen of the US 33 5 5 6 More 18 USC 1544 - Misuse of passport 25 6 6 14 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 11 7 8 10 More 18 USC 1542 - False statement in application and use of passport 7 8 7 7 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 5 9 10 12 More 08 USC 1253 - Alien hindering his/her removal from the US 4 10 14 21 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 4 10 12 5 More 18 USC 1425 - Procurement of citizenship or naturalization unlaw 4 10 17 21 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 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 prosecutions—up 22.2 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1425 that involves " Procurement of citizenship or naturalization unlaw ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—900 percent—was registered for prosecutions 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 prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 43.9 percent—was Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A (Title 21 U.S.C Section 841 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 70.6 percent—was for filings where the lead charge was " Fraud and related activity - id documents " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 ).
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 472 prosecutions—was the most active during July 2011. 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 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 for most frequent use five years ago.
Southern District of Texas (Houston) is now ranking 3rd. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 for most frequent use five years ago.
A recent entry to the top 10 list was North Dakota , now ranked 10th . This district ranked 27th one year ago and 28th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in immigration prosecutions compared to one year ago— 36.2 percent—was Arizona . This was the same district that had the largest increase— 125.7 percent—when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in immigration prosecutions— 27.8 percent—was Middle District of Florida (Tampa). This was the same district that had the largest increase— 14.3 percent—when compared with five years ago.
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 July 2011 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Crane, Randy Texas, S 64 1 4 6 More Conway, John Edwards N Mexico 60 2 33 24 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 57 3 5 8 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 54 4 2 3 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 51 5 6 7 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 47 6 7 11 More Briones, David Texas, W 44 7 10 10 More Martinez, Philip Ray Texas, W 41 8 11 9 More Bury, David C. Arizona 40 9 23 21 More Black, Bruce D. N Mexico 38 10 53 47 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 Randy Crane in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 1st with 64 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Crane appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 4) and five years ago (rank 6).
Judge John Edwards Conway in the District of New Mexico ranked 2nd with 60 defendants in immigration cases.
Judge Ricardo H. Hinojosa in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 57 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Hinojosa appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 5) and five years ago (rank 8).
Report Generated: October 20, 2011
