Immigration Prosecutions for March 2022

Number Latest Month 2,184
Percent Change from previous month 13.3
Percent Change from 1 year ago 3.5
Percent Change from 5 years ago
(Including Magistrate Court)
-63.2
Percent Change from 5 years ago
(Excluding Magistrate Court)
-28.1
Table 1. Criminal Immigration Prosecutions

The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during March 2022 the government reported 2184 new immigration prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 13.3 percent over the previous month.

The comparisons of the number of defendants charged with 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 2022 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (3.5%). Prosecutions over the past year are still much lower than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are down 63.2 percent from levels reported in 2017.

The substantial dip 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 decrease in immigration prosecutions is 28.1 percent instead of 63.2 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 Prosecutions

The decrease from the levels five years ago in immigration prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of immigration prosecutions 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.

Pie chart of agenrevgrp

Figure 2. Prosecutions by Investigative Agency

Virtually all federal criminal prosecutions for immigration offenses in March 2022 (99 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 Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts

Top Ranked Lead Charges

In March 2022, 1648 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 March the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326 involving "Reentry of deported alien". This was the lead charge for 69.4 percent of all magistrate filings in March.

Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" (23.5%).

Immigration Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts

In March 2022, 536 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during March there were an additional 1299 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 March.

Top Ranked Lead Charges

Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of immigration matters filed in U.S. District Court during March 2022.

Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago  
08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,319 1 1 1 More
08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 402 2 2 2 More
18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 44 3 3 3 More
18 USC 1001 - Fraud/false statements or entries generally 22 4 5 8 More
08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 10 5 4 4 More
18 USC 1544 - Misuse of passport 6 6 6 5 More
18 USC 911 - False personification - Citizen of the US 5 7 14 15 More
19 USC 1459 - Reporting requirements for individuals 5 7 10 25 More
46 USC 70503 - Possession control substance on vessel subject to jurisdiction of US 4 9 25 - More
18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 3 10 19 7 More
21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 3 10 12 14 More
Table 2. Top Charges Filed

  • "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 "Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1546. "Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1546 was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 five years ago.

Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 162.5 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 911 that involves " False personification - Citizen of the US ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 850 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Reporting requirements for individuals " (Title 19 U.S.C Section 1459 ).

Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 35.2 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 prosecutions — 76.9 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Fraud and related activity - id documents " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 ).

Top Ranked Judicial Districts

Understandably, there is great variation in the number of immigration prosecutions that are filed in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.

The districts registering the largest number of prosecutions of this type last month are shown in Table 3.


Judicial District Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago  
Texas, W 496 1 2 2 More
Texas, S 483 2 1 1 More
Arizona 401 3 3 4 More
N Mexico 137 4 5 3 More
Cal, S 135 5 4 5 More
Fla, S 17 6 11 6 More
Puer Rico 17 6 13 9 More
Fla, M 13 8 6 8 More
Texas, N 11 9 7 10 More
Utah 10 10 10 7 More
Table 3. Top 10 Districts

  • The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) — with 496 prosecutions — was the most active during March 2022. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 for most frequent use five years ago.

  • The Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 2nd. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 for most frequent use five years ago.

  • District of Arizona is now ranking 3rd. The District of Arizona was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 for most frequent use five years ago.

Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Southern District of Florida (Miami), now ranked 6th , and Puerto Rico at 6th In the same order, these districts ranked 11th and 13th one year ago and 6th and 9th five years ago.

The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in immigration prosecutions compared to one year ago — 173.5 percent — was Southern District of Florida (Miami). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 31.1 percent — was Arizona .

In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in immigration prosecutions — 29.1 percent — was Utah .  This was the same district that had the largest increase — 77.1 percent — when compared with five years ago.

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 of this type during March 2022 are shown in Table 4.

Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago  
Moses, Alia M. Texas, W 286 1 1 1 More
Counts, Walter David, III Texas, W 74 2 2 - More
Garcia Marmolejo, Marina Texas, S 65 3 5 17 More
Gonzales, Kenneth John N Mexico 56 4 19 3 More
Saldana, Diana Texas, S 56 4 3 16 More
Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 52 6 4 4 More
Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 52 6 7 8 More
Crane, Randy Texas, S 49 8 6 5 More
Rodriguez, Fernando, Jr. Texas, S 46 9 11 - More
Olvera, Jose Rolando, Jr. Texas, S 34 10 14 9 More
Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 34 10 15 14 More
Table 4. Top Ten Judges

All 11 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of immigration filings. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)

  • Judge Alia M. Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 286 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Moses appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1) and five years ago (rank 1).

  • Judge Walter David Counts, III in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 74 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Counts also appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago (ranked 2).

  • Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 65 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Garcia Marmolejo also appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago (ranked 5).

Report Generated: May 3, 2022
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