According to a recent report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, a division of the Justice Department, the number of both immigration offenses and cases in which the defendant was a noncitizen continues to increase dramatically. Covering fiscal year 2000, the report shows a continuation of the trend of increasing immigration caseloads every year since the passage of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act in 1996.
During fiscal year 2000, 16,495 cases were referred by the INS to US attorneys for prosecution of immigration violations, with 15,613 prosecutions. In addition, 7,803 noncitizens were prosecuted for drug trafficking offenses. Not surprisingly, the biggest increases came in states that have received substantial increases in the number of Border Patrol agents. These five states, Arizona, California, Florida, New York and Texas, accounted for 75 percent of the increase from 1996 to 2000. Along with the increased prosecutions, more people were serving time in prison for immigration violations. From 1985 to 2000, the number of people in prison on immigration convictions increased from 1,593 to 13,676. This represents 14 percent of the overall increase in the federal prison population and 29 percent of the overall population.
The vast majority, 57 percent, of cases involved citizens of Mexico, with nearly all of these cases being investigations of unlawful entry. Seven percent of the cases involved US citizens, most of whom were charged with immigrant smuggling or otherwise assisting in the unlawful entry of a noncitizen. More than 60 percent of those investigated had been previously arrested, and of these, about 60 percent had been convicted
US attorneys were more likely to prosecute referred immigration cases than any other type of case. Prosecution was declined in only three percent of these cases, compared to an overall decline rate of 26 percent. While more immigration cases are being investigated and prosecuted, many are concerned that the increased case load, now 14 percent of the US attorney case load, is creating significant strain on the federal court system, especially in areas where a substantial number of cases are prosecuted.
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