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1 Carol Kaplan & Kenneth Carlson, Immigration Offenses 1 (1990)

handle is hein.immigration/immigof0001 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics Federal Offenses and Offenders Immigration Offenses The majority of persons apprehended for Illegally entering the United States are returned to their country of origin without being referred to the criminal justice sys- tem. During 1987, however, U.S. attorneys Investigated 7,458 persons suspected of committing immigration offenses. Over 96% of these investigations resulted in prosecutions, compared to 69% of the investigations for nonimmigration offenses. U.S. magistrates disposed of cases involv- ing 63% of all alleged immigration violators and 11% of all nonimmigration defendants. Among cases terminated in 1987, by mag- istrates and in U.S. district courts, 93% of the defendants prosecuted for immigration offenses were convicted, compared to 77% of nonimmigration defendants. These data are drawn from the Federal Justice Statistics Program (FJSP) that gath- ers and processes information provided by Federal prosecutorial, judicial, and correc- tional agencies. Other findings include - * The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) referred 96% of the suspects investigated for immigration offenses by U.S. attorneys in 1987. Most of the remain- ing suspects, largely involved in passport fraud, were referred by the State Depart- ment or other agencies. * Illegal entry or reentry into the United States comprised 46% of the immigration suspects investigated by U.S. attorneys. * For all cases terminated in 1987, immi- gration offenses accounted for 8.2% of the suspects investigated by U.S. attorneys, Table 1. Suspects Investigated by U.S. attorneys for Immigration offenses, 1987 Suspects Type of investigated by immigration U.S. attorneys offense Number Percent Alloffenses 7,458 100% Illegal entry or reentry 3,417 46% Harboring or bringing in aliens* 3,473 46 Passportfraud 362 5 Alien and naturalization offenses- 206 3 Note: Data describe matters terminated in 1987. *Includes misuse of visas or permits (620 suspects) and other violations (11). For more detail about immi- gration offenses, see appendix table on page 6. Include nationality document fraud (150) and alien registration violations (56). 11% of the suspects prosecuted in U.S. district courts or before U.S. magistrates, and 13% of all Federal convictions. * In 1987, 90% of persons investigated by U.S. attorneys for immigration violations were in the Southern District of California and the Southern District of Texas. * The average sentence to Federal prison in 1987 for an immigration offense (15.4 months) was about a fourth of the average of all other criminal sentences (57.8 months). * The percentage of immigration offenders sentenced to prison in U.S. district courts was slightly higher than the percentage of those convicted of nonimmigration offenses during the period 1982 to 1987. August 1990 In many areas of administration of criminal justice, State, local, and Fed- eral authorities have similar mandates to apprehend and prosecute law viola- tors. The apprehension and disposi- tion of immigration law violators are largely Federal responsibilities, the dimensions of which this report exam- ines. From 1980 to 1987, U.S. attorneys investigated an annual average of nearly 7,700 suspected immigration violators, accounting on average for about 10% of all criminal suspects investigated annually. During the entire period, immigration violators were 15% of all defendants convicted by U.S. magistrates and district courts and 7% of persons sentenced to Fed- eral prison. The Southern District of California and the Southern District of Texas prosecuted the vast majority of suspects prosecuted nationwide for immigration offenses during the period. The Bureau of Justice Statistics ex- presses appreciation to the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, the Adminis- trative Office of the U.S. Courts, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service for providing the source data. Steven D. Dillingham, Ph.D. Director

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