Immigration Prosecutions for March 2007
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during March 2007 the government reported 3646 new immigration prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 17.2% 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 2007 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was only slightlydown (-0.3 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 146.2 percent from levels reported in 2002.
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 17.4 percent instead of 146.2 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.
Virtually all federal criminal prosecutions for immigration offenses in March 2007 (98 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 March 2007, 75 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 March 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 49.2 percent of all magistrate filings in March.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "8 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (36.6%), "8 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" (8.6%).
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 March 2007.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 8 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 504 1 1 1 More 8 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 217 2 2 2 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 48 3 4 4 More 8 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 40 4 3 3 More 18 USC 1542 - False statement in application and use of passport 18 5 8 8 More 18 USC 1543 - Forgery or false use of passport 12 6 6 9 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 11 7 5 7 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 8 8 13 13 More 18 USC 1001 - Fraud/false statements or entries generally 8 8 9 5 More 18 USC 911 - False personification - Citizen of the US 7 10 7 6 More
Table 2: Top charges filed
"Reentry of deported alien" (8 U.S.C Section 1326) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. This statute was also ranked 1st a year ago as well as 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. This statute was also ranked 2nd a year ago as well as five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1546. This statute was ranked 4th a year ago, while it was the 4th most frequently invoked 5 years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 106.7 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 that involves " Firearms; Unlawful acts ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase—138.5 %—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 55.2 percent—was Forgery or false use of passport (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1543 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 71.9 percent—was for filings 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 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 224 1 1 1 More Texas, W 102 2 2 4 More Cal, S 84 3 5 3 More Fla, S 46 4 6 8 More N Mexico 41 5 4 5 More Arizona 35 6 3 2 More Fla, M 23 7 8 14 More Colorado 22 8 17 21 More Cal, N 17 9 18 19 More Puer Rico 16 10 15 23 More
Table 3: Top 10 districts
Southern District of Texas (Houston)—with 224 prosecutions—was the most active during March 2007. This district was also ranked 1st a year ago as well as five years ago.
Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd. This district was also ranked 2nd a year ago. Five years ago, the district's position was 4.
Southern District of California (San Diego) is now ranking 3rd. It moved up in its rankings from a year ago when it ranked 5th. Five years ago, the district's position was 3.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Puerto Rico , now ranked 10th , and Colorado at 8th In the same order, these districts ranked 15th and 17th one year ago and 23rd and 21st five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in immigration prosecutions compared to one year ago— 31.7 percent—was Colorado . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 159.5 percent—was Puerto Rico .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in immigration prosecutions— 34.4 percent—was Middle District of Florida (Tampa). But over the past five years, Southern District of California (San Diego) showed the largest drop— 5.3 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 March 2007 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 39 1 1 - More Lorenz, M. James Cal, S 11 2 31 35 More Huff, Marilyn L. Cal, S 10 3 28 62 More Miller, Jeffrey T. Cal, S 9 4 24 31 More Sabraw, Dana Makoto Cal, S 8 5 31 - More Miller, Walker David Colorado 8 5 105 89 More Thompson, Gordon Jr. Cal, S 7 7 12 1 More Moskowitz, Barry Ted Cal, S 5 8 25 22 More Ungaro-Benages, Ursula Mancusi Fla, S 5 8 81 203 More Winmill, B. Lynn Idaho 5 8 52 63 More Bennett, Mark W. Iowa, N 5 8 105 53 More
Table 4: Top 10 judges
A total of 9 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of immigration filings , while the remaining 2 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico ranked 1st with 39 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Brackalso appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago (ranked 1st).
Judge M. James Lorenz in the Southern District of California (San Diego) ranked 2nd with 11 defendants in immigration cases.
Judge Marilyn L. Huff in the Southern District of California (San Diego) ranked 3rd with 10 new immigration cases.
