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By 2012, immigration prosecutions were the single largest category of federal case for the fourth consecutive year. The number of felony immigration prosecutions in 2010 was an astronomical 989% larger than the number in 1994. Of the approximately one-third of cases that make it to federal district court,the large majority—more than 75% in 2010 and 2011—were for
illegally entering or being found in the United States. Of immigration offenders serving time in federal prison, 90% are there because of an illegal entry or re-entry after deportation conviction. Moreover, data for felony prosecutions in district court understate the extent of immigration prosecutions because many
defendants are disposed of by magistrate judges as overburdened courts struggle with the crippling criminal immigration caseload. For example, in June 2013 alone, 6,889 immigration defendants were processed by magistrate judges, mainly for illegal entry by an alien....[citing TRAC research]
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