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Even as the Obama administration vowed to make immigration reform a top priority, U.S. Attorneys along the border stepped up criminal charges against border crossers in the first 11 months of fiscal 2013, according to a new report by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). The vast majority of these cases were brought against immigrants for entering or re-entering the U.S. illegally.
New Mexico saw the most dramatic increase in prosecutions, up 46 percent from last year. Texas’ Southern and Western Districts have the most criminal immigration prosecutions in the nation, followed by Arizona, which actually saw a decrease in prosecutions this year. Overall, criminal prosecutions for border crossing are on pace to reach nearly 100,000 by the end of the fiscal year, a steep increase from 27,428 just five years ago.
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