Immigration Prosecutions for November 2005
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during November 2005 the government reported filing 2779 new immigration prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 10.3% 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 2005 prosecutions are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the filings were up (12.3 percent). Prosecutions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that the prosecutions are up 150.9 percent from levels reported five years ago.
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 26.4 percent instead of 150.9 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 broad pattern of increase in immigration prosecutions over the past five years is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of immigration prosecutions 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 November 2005 (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.
Lead Charge in Immigration Prosecutions
US Magistrate Courts
In November 2005, 53 percent of immigration cases took place in U.S. Magistrate Courts which handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called "petty offenses." In the magistrate courts in November 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 68.1 percent of all magistrate filings in November.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (19.8%), "08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" (7%).
US District Courts
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecution of immigration matters filed in U.S. District court during November 2005.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 828 1 1 1 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 263 2 2 2 08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place, etc. 87 3 3 3 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and 58 4 4 4 18 USC 1543 - Forgery or false use of passport 18 5 5 10 18 USC 1001 - Fraud/false statements generally 11 6 6 9 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 10 7 8 8 18 USC 0911 - False personification - Citizen of the US 9 8 7 5 18 USC 1542 - False statement in application and use of passport 9 8 9 6 42 USC 0408 - Fed Old Age, Survivors + Disab Insur -Penalties 9 8 14 19
Table 2: Top 10 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 "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc." under Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 . This statute was also ranked 3rd a year ago as well as five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 107.1 percent—compared to one year ago was 42 U.S.C Section 408 that involves "Fed Old Age, Survivors + Disab Insur -Penalties ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase—625 %—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 44.5 percent—was Fraud/false statements or entries generally (18 U.S.C Section 1001). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 51.2 percent—was for filings where the lead charge was "False personification - Citizen of the US " (18 U.S.C Section 911 ).
Immigration Prosecutions by Judicial District
Understandably, there is great variation in number of immigration prosecutions that are filed in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts. The ten districts registering the largest number of prosecutions last month are shown in Table 3.
Southern District of Texas (Houston)—with 345 prosecutions—was the most active during November 2005. The district's position last year was 1st. Five years ago, the district's position was 4.
Arizona ranked second. This marked a rise from Arizona 's 4thplace ranking just one year ago. Five years ago, the district's position was 2.
Western District of Texas (San Antonio) is now ranking third. It moved down in its rankings from a year ago when it ranked 2nd. Five years ago, the district's position was 3.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Oregon, now ranked 10th, and North Dakota at 9th. In the same order, these districts ranked 12th and 17th one year ago and 13th and 41th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in immigration prosecutions compared to one year ago— 11.5 percent—was New Mexico . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth—226.7 percent—was North Dakota.
In the last year, the judicial district court recording the largest drop in immigration prosecutions— 64.3 percent—was Central District of California (Los Angeles). But over the past five years, Southern District of California (San Diego) showed the largest drop— 31.9 percent.
Top Ranked District Judges
For the entire nation, the ten district court judges recorded with the largest number of new federal criminal immigration cases during November 2005 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 68 1 39 - Kazen, George P. Texas, S 64 2 1 4 Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 53 3 3 - Tagle, Hilda G. Texas, S 42 4 4 8 Crane, Randy Texas, S 40 5 7 - Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 36 6 8 16 Collins, Raner Christercunean Arizona 34 7 16 1 Hanen, Andrew S. Texas, S 31 8 5 - Roll, John McCarthy Arizona 29 9 19 3 Zapata, Frank R. Arizona 29 9 17 2
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 Micaela Alvarez in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 1st with 68 defendants in new immigration cases.
Judge George P. Kazen in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 2nd with 64 defendants in new immigration cases. Judge Kazen also appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1st) and five years ago (rank 4th).
Judge Robert C. Brack in New Mexico ranked 3rd with 53 new immigration cases. Judge Brack also appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago (ranked 3rd).
