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A study by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse of Syracuse University indicates that the nation's most common federal charge involves illegal immigration. Justice Department data shows that during the first half of Fiscal Year 2011, prosecutions for the crime of illegal re-entry into the U.S. made up just under one quarter of all federal prosecutions and nearly half of all immigration prosecutions in the first half of FY 2011. The data, obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, also showed that conviction under this particular law, classified as a felony, resulted in an average prison sentence of 14 months. The second most common immigration crime -– illegal entry --- is a petty misdemeanor with an average sentence of one month. Trends for the last twenty years show that the number of more serious illegal reentry prosecutions brought during the Obama years top those brought under previous administrations. According to the study, Arizona was the judicial district where the greater number of processes by illegal re-entry with 12,780 cases, followed by Southern Texas with 11,226 cases.
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