Immigration Prosecutions for September 2023
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during September 2023 the government reported 1868 new immigration prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 12.3 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 2023 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-14.3%). 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 81.3 percent from levels reported in 2018.
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 50.3 percent instead of 81.3 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 September 2023 (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 Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In September 2023, 1500 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 September 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 70.7 percent of all magistrate filings in September.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" (21.7%), "08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc." (5.3%).
Immigration Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In September 2023, 368 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during September there were an additional 1143 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 September.
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 September 2023.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,061 1 1 1 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 375 2 2 2 More 08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 26 3 6 3 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 24 4 3 4 More 18 USC 911 - False personification - Citizen of the US 4 5 9 19 More 18 USC 1001 - Fraud/false statements or entries generally 4 5 4 10 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 3 7 11 15 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 3 7 7 9 More 18 USC 1542 - False statement in application and use of passport 3 7 13 8 More 18 USC 1543 - Forgery or false use of passport 2 10 19 12 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 6 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 205 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 that involves " Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 313.6 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Fraud/false statements or entries generally " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1001 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 70 percent — was " Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 76.9 % — when compared with five years ago.
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 404 1 1 1 More Texas, S 397 2 2 2 More Arizona 234 3 3 5 More Cal, S 137 4 4 3 More N Mexico 88 5 5 4 More Mich, E 26 6 39 11 More Fla, S 25 7 6 6 More Fla, M 24 8 7 7 More Texas, N 17 9 8 9 More N. Y., N 13 10 16 25 More Okla, W 13 10 10 44 More Utah 13 10 11 12 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts
The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) — with 404 prosecutions — was the most active during September 2023. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 for most frequent use five years ago.
The Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 2nd. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 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 5 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Utah , now ranked 10th , and Northern District of New York (Syracuse) at 10th In the same order, these districts ranked 11th and 16th one year ago and 12th and 25th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in immigration prosecutions compared to one year ago — 250 percent — was Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 69 percent — was Northern District of New York (Syracuse).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in immigration prosecutions — 13.6 percent — was Arizona . But over the past five years, Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit) showed the largest drop — 72.5 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 September 2023 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Moses, Alia M. Texas, W 147 1 1 1 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 84 2 9 7 More Garcia Marmolejo, Marina Texas, S 71 3 3 18 More Saldana, Diana Texas, S 62 4 5 17 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 53 5 8 10 More Counts, Walter David, III Texas, W 42 6 2 3 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 40 7 10 5 More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 32 8 41 8 More Zipps, Jennifer Guerin Arizona 31 9 17 22 More Ramos, Nelva Gonzales Texas, S 31 9 16 2 More Rodriguez, Fernando, Jr. Texas, S 31 9 12 - More Briones, David Texas, W 31 9 15 13 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
All 12 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 12 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Alia M. Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 147 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Moses appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1) and five years ago (rank 1).
Judge Kathleen Cardone in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 84 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Cardone appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 9) and five years ago (rank 7).
Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 71 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Garcia Marmolejo also appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago (ranked 3).
Report Generated: December 4, 2023
