Immigration case surge sets new record

NY Times:

Federal prosecutions reached a record high in the 2009 fiscal year, with the surge driven by a sharp increase in cases filed against immigration violators.

The 169,612 federal prosecutions were a jump of nearly 9 percent from the previous year, according to Department of Justice data analyzed by a research center at Syracuse University in a new report. Immigration prosecutions were up nearly 16 percent, and made up more than half of all criminal cases brought by the federal government, the report said.

Much of the spike, immigration experts say, arises from Bush administration efforts to increase immigration enforcement and to speed prosecutions. The administration greatly increased the number of Border Patrol agents and prosecutors, and also introduced a program known as Operation Streamline that relied on large-scale processing of plea deals in immigrant cases in some parts of the country.

The relatively simple cases have become the low-hanging fruit of the federal legal system: Immigration prosecutions, from inception to court disposal, are lightning quick, according to the report. While white-collar prosecutions take an average of 460 days and narcotics cases take 333, the immigration cases are typically disposed of in 2 days.

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Houston and South Texas were leaders in these cases. The Houston Chronicle reports:

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Much of that boost came from the Southern District of Texas, which led the nation with more than 32,200 immigration prosecutions last year — more than one-third of such filings nationwide, according to the TRAC data.

While immigration cases increased significantly, the prosecution of drug-related crimes was up 1.3 percent from the previous year and weapons prosecutions dropped by 3.5 percent during the same time frame, according to TRAC.

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I expect these types of prosecutions to drop under the Obama administration. That is too bad, because the cases act as a deterrent to illegal immigration and to recidivism by those who are deported. If they return and are caught they face felony charges and longer sentences.