Criminal Prosecutions for Illegal Entry Up, Re-Entry Down
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during the first eight months of FY 2016 the government reported 25,680 new criminal prosecutions for illegal entry, and 20,628 new criminal prosecutions for illegal re-entry. Illegal re-entry charges under Title 8 Section 1326 of the United States Code are a felony, while illegal entry prosecutions under Title 8 Section 1325 are only a petty misdemeanor. These comparisons of the number of defendants charged with offenses are based on case-by-case information obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University.
Illegal Entry. If the pace of criminal prosecutions during the first eight months of FY 2016 continue at the same rate, the annual number of prosecutions for illegal entry will total 38,520 for this fiscal year. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by TRAC, this estimate is up 7.7 percent over the past fiscal year when the number of illegal entry prosecutions totaled 35,770.
Illegal Re-Entry. In contrast, the pace of prosecutions this year for illegal re-entry is down. For these more serious felony prosecutions, TRAC estimates their number will total 30,942 for this fiscal year, assuming the same pace continues for the rest of FY 2016. This would represent an 8.4 percent decline from the past fiscal year when the number of illegal re-entry prosecutions totaled 33,795.
Long Term Trends. The long term trend in prosecutions for these matters going back to FY 1996 is shown more clearly in Figures 1 and 2. The vertical bars in each time series graph represent the number of prosecutions of this type recorded each fiscal year. Projected figures for the current fiscal year are shown. Each presidential administration is distinguished by the color of the bars.
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