Immigration Prosecutions for May 2020
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during May 2020 the government reported 1089 new immigration prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 0.3 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 2020 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-42.1%). 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 11.5 percent from levels reported in 2015.
The 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 0.1 percent instead of 11.5 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.
Virtually all federal criminal prosecutions for immigration offenses in May 2020 (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 May 2020, 987 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 May 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 57.2 percent of all magistrate filings in May.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc." (32.2%), "08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" (8.7%).
Immigration Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In May 2020, 102 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during May there were an additional 649 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 May.
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 May 2020.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 554 1 1 1 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 163 2 2 2 More 08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 12 3 4 5 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 8 4 3 3 More 18 USC 1544 - Misuse of passport 4 5 5 4 More 18 USC 1001 - Fraud/false statements or entries generally 2 6 8 10 More 18 USC 111 - Assaulting, resisting, impeding certain officers 1 7 16 22 More 18 USC 758 - High speed flight from immigration checkpoint 1 7 20 29 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 1 7 9 10 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 1 7 15 9 More 18 USC 1543 - Forgery or false use of passport 1 7 7 13 More 18 USC 3583 - Term of supervised release after imprisonment 1 7 24 29 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 1 7 13 14 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 1 7 10 18 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 "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 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 14.3 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 758 that involves " High speed flight from immigration checkpoint ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 300 % — when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 84.3 percent — was " Forgery or false use of passport " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1543 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 69 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.
The Southern District of Texas (Houston) — with 297 prosecutions — was the most active during May 2020. 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 District of Arizona ranked 2nd. The District of Arizona was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 for most frequent use five years ago.
Western District of Texas (San Antonio) is now ranking 3rd. 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.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Texas (Tyler), now ranked 10th , and Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson) at 7th In the same order, these districts ranked 18th and 27th one year ago and 19th and 68th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in immigration prosecutions compared to one year ago — 87.1 percent — was Arizona . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 683.3 percent — was Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in immigration prosecutions — 31.2 percent — was Southern District of California (San Diego). But over the past five years, New Mexico showed the largest drop — 25.9 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 of this type during May 2020 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Saldana, Diana Texas, S 56 1 14 18 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 53 2 11 7 More Garcia Marmolejo, Marina Texas, S 51 3 17 12 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 42 4 10 6 More Moses, Alia M. Texas, W 41 5 1 2 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 39 6 9 8 More Gonzales, Kenneth John N Mexico 24 7 8 3 More Marquez, Rosemary Arizona 22 8 28 23 More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 21 9 19 1 More Ramos, Nelva Gonzales Texas, S 19 10 11 5 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 filings.
Judge Diana Saldana in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 1st with 56 defendants in immigration cases.
Judge Randy Crane in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 2nd with 53 defendants in immigration cases.
Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 51 defendants in immigration cases.
Report Generated: June 17, 2020
