Immigration Convictions for August 2014

Number Latest Month 8,746
Percent Change from previous month 7.7
Percent Change from 1 year ago -1.7
Percent Change from 5 years ago (Including Magistrate Court) 3.3
Percent Change from 5 years ago (Excluding Magistrate Court) -7.9
Table 1. Criminal Immigration Convictions

The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during August 2014 the government reported 8746 new immigration convictions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 7.7 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 2014 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was only slightly down (-1.7%). 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 3.3 percent from levels reported in 2009.

Bar and line plot of FYMON

Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Immigration Convictions

The leveling out 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.

Pie chart of agenrevgrp

Figure 2. Convictions by Investigative Agency

Virtually all federal criminal convictions for immigration offenses in August 2014 (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 August 2014, 6763 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 August 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 77.5 percent of all magistrate convictions in August.

Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (21.7%).

Immigration Convictions in U.S. District Courts

In August 2014, 1983 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during August 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 August.

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 August 2014.

Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago  
08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,614 1 1 1 More
08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 177 2 2 2 More
18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 86 3 3 3 More
18 USC 1544 - Misuse of passport 31 4 5 7 More
08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 24 5 4 4 More
18 USC 1542 - False statement in application and use of passport 11 6 8 6 More
18 USC 911 - False personification - Citizen of the US 5 7 6 5 More
18 USC 1001 - Fraud/false statements or entries generally 5 7 9 7 More
18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 4 9 7 9 More
18 USC 1543 - Forgery or false use of passport 4 9 14 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 "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 convictions — up 30.1 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1544 that involves " Misuse of passport ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 201.5 % — 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 71.3 percent — was " False personification - Citizen of the US " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 911 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 78.7 % — when compared with five years ago.

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  
N Mexico 473 1 3 4 More
Texas, W 398 2 1 2 More
Texas, S 336 3 2 1 More
Arizona 232 4 5 5 More
Cal, S 120 5 4 3 More
Fla, S 71 6 6 6 More
Fla, M 20 7 10 11 More
N. Y., N 19 8 19 19 More
Virg, E 18 9 8 14 More
Colorado 16 10 14 18 More
N Car, W 16 10 32 26 More
Nebraska 16 10 13 31 More
Table 3. Top 10 Districts

  • The District of New Mexico — with 473 convictions — was the most active during August 2014. The District of New Mexico was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 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.

  • Southern District of Texas (Houston) is now ranking 3rd. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 for most frequent use five years ago.

Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Nebraska , now ranked 10th , and Colorado at 10th In the same order, these districts ranked 13th and 14th one year ago and 31st and 18th five years ago.

The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in immigration convictions compared to one year ago — 91.4 percent — was Arizona . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 90 percent — was Nebraska .

In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in immigration convictions — 32.3 percent — was Southern District of California (San Diego).  But over the past five years, Middle District of Florida (Tampa) showed the largest drop — 41.3 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 August 2014 are shown in Table 4.

Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago  
Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 184 1 1 1 More
Gonzales, Kenneth John N Mexico 178 2 - - More
Hanen, Andrew S. Texas, S 65 3 3 9 More
Biery, Samuel Frederick, Jr. Texas, W 61 4 24 41 More
Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 54 5 36 13 More
Crane, Randy Texas, S 52 6 5 10 More
Moses, Alia Texas, W 49 7 2 - More
Briones, David Texas, W 41 8 10 7 More
Guaderrama, David C. Texas, W 41 8 7 - More
Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 37 10 4 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 convictions.

  • Judge Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico ranked 1st with 184 convicted in immigration convictions. Judge Brack appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1) and five years ago (rank 1).

  • Judge Kenneth John Gonzales in the District of New Mexico ranked 2nd with 178 convicted in immigration convictions.

  • Judge Andrew S. Hanen in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 65 convicted in immigration convictions. Judge Hanen appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 3) and five years ago (rank 9).

Report Generated: October 6, 2014
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