The latest TRAC data tool, covering the five-year period through the end of November 2006, for the first time provides a way to document trends for the overall number of prosecutions filed as well as convictions obtained under U.S. immigration law in federal districts around the country. U.S. District Court judges who handled the largest number of immigration cases are also highlighted.

For example, last November the Southern District of Texas continued to lead other federal districts in the number of new prosecutions filed in the U.S. District Court. Arizona and the Southern District of California each moved up in their rankings from a year ago to be the second and third most active districts. New districts in the top ten most active in November as compared with one and five years ago were Utah, Colorado, Kansas and the Eastern District of Washington.

In addition to the monthly overall counts and the new law-by-law reports about the trends for both immigration prosecutions and convictions is another previously unavailable feature: clear, plain English statements about individual cases. These statements, which include the names of the assistant U.S. attorneys managing each case, the presiding judge, etc., make available (for a small charge) detailed information about a narrow set of cases, either for a specific statute, federal district or individual judge.

The new data tool was made possible with grants from the JEHT Foundation and the Ford Foundation, as well as support from Syracuse University.