Immigration Convictions for December 2018
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during December 2018 the government reported 7927 new immigration convictions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 24.8 percent over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants convicted for 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 2018 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was up (111.5%). Convictions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that convictions of this type are up 56.2 percent from levels reported in 2013.
The 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 convictions is 18.9 percent instead of 56.2 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.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Immigration Convictions
The increase from the levels five years ago in immigration convictions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of immigration convictions of this type recorded on a month-to-month basis. Where a prosecution was initially filed in U.S. Magistrate Court and then transferred to the U.S. District Court, the magistrate filing date was used since this provides an earlier indicator of actual trends. 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. To view trends year-by-year rather than month-by-month, see TRAC's annual report series for a broader picture.
Virtually all federal criminal convictions for immigration offenses in December 2018 (100 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.
Immigration Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In December 2018, 6370 defendants in immigration cases for these matters were filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. These courts handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called "petty offenses." In addition, complaints are sometimes filed in the magistrate courts before an indictment or information is entered. In these cases, the matter starts in the magistrate courts and later moves to the district court where subsequent proceedings take place.
In the magistrate courts in December the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 involving "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc.". This was the lead charge for 93.3 percent of all magistrate convictions in December.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (6.5%).
Immigration Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In December 2018, 1557 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during December there were an additional 0 defendants whose cases moved from the magistrate courts to the U.S. district courts after an indictment or information was filed. The sections which follow cover both sets of cases and therefore cover all matters filed in district court during December.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of immigration matters filed in U.S. District Court during December 2018.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,220 1 1 1 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 200 2 2 2 More 08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 43 3 3 4 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 40 4 4 3 More 18 USC 1544 - Misuse of passport 14 5 5 5 More 18 USC 1543 - Forgery or false use of passport 10 6 12 11 More 18 USC 3 - Accessory after the fact 6 7 24 18 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 5 8 6 8 More 18 USC 1542 - False statement in application and use of passport 5 8 9 6 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 4 10 7 10 More Table 2. Top Charges for Convictions
"Reentry of deported alien" (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Reentry of deported alien" (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 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. "Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" under Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc." under Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325. "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc." under Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in convictions — up 4100 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 3 that involves " Accessory after the fact ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 740 % — when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago — down 29.5 percent — was " Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. " (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in convictions — 34 percent — was for convictions where the lead charge was " False statement in application and use of passport " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1542 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
Understandably, there is great variation in the number of immigration convictions in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of convictions of this type last month are shown in Table 3.
Judicial District Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Texas, S 366 1 2 1 More Texas, W 337 2 1 2 More N Mexico 239 3 3 3 More Cal, S 126 4 4 5 More Arizona 31 5 5 4 More Fla, S 30 6 6 6 More Cal, C 23 7 22 7 More Fla, M 23 7 8 8 More Virg, E 20 9 29 10 More Mich, E 18 10 10 12 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts
The Southern District of Texas (Houston) — with 366 convictions — was the most active during December 2018. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 for most frequent use five years ago.
The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 for most frequent use five years ago.
District of New Mexico is now ranking 3rd. The District of New Mexico was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Central District of California (Los Angeles), now ranked 7th , and Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria) at 9th In the same order, these districts ranked 22nd and 29th one year ago and 7th and 10th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in immigration convictions compared to one year ago — 252.9 percent — was Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 97.1 percent — was Western District of Texas (San Antonio).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in immigration convictions — 14 percent — was Southern District of California (San Diego). But over the past five years, Central District of California (Los Angeles) showed the largest drop — 51.6 percent.
Top Ranked District Judges
At any one time, there are about 680 federal District Court judges working in the United States. The judges recorded with the largest number of new immigration crime cases resulting in convictions of this type during December 2018 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Garaufis, Nicholas G. N Mexico 63 1 34 - More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 61 2 3 2 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 59 3 5 5 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 54 4 4 6 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 54 4 12 13 More Guaderrama, David C. Texas, W 54 4 10 16 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 50 7 7 7 More Briones, David Texas, W 47 8 14 10 More Olvera, Jose Rolando, Jr. Texas, S 42 9 11 - More Rainey, John David Texas, S 41 10 28 20 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
All 10 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of immigration convictions.
Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis in the District of New Mexico ranked 1st with 63 convicted in immigration convictions.
Judge Ricardo H. Hinojosa in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 2nd with 61 convicted in immigration convictions. Judge Hinojosa appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 3) and five years ago (rank 2).
Judge Micaela Alvarez in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 59 convicted in immigration convictions. Judge Alvarez appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 5) and five years ago (rank 5).
Report Generated: February 13, 2019
