Prosecution of Illegal Aliens now represent the most common federal prosecutions in the U.S.
The Department of Homeland Security recommended prosecution of 65 percent more immigration cases in 2004 than the previous year.
The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) found a 345 percent increase in immigration-related prosecutions in the U.S. Attorney's Southern District of Texas from fiscal year 2003 to 2004. More than 80 percent of prosecutions in the District were for illegal entry.
The Houston Chronicle reports that the TRAC study found increases nationwide in immigration prosecutions:
Nearly a third of all federal criminal prosecutions are related to immigration, topping drug cases, the study said.
The TRAC study also found that the government referred 18,000 immigration cases for prosecution in the Southern District of Texas last year, more than the other five border districts combined.
It's too bad that there aren't similar records in other districts. The vast majority of illegal aliens captured by the Border Patrol are sent back to Mexico the same day instead of being prosecuted. According to the Houston Chronicle, Border Patrol agents made 1.1 million arrests of illegal immigrants along the border last year. But fewer than 27,000 people were prosecuted on immigration charges that year, according to TRAC.
The Arizona Republic reports that the dramatic results in the South Texas District are due to the leadership former prosecutor Michael T. Shelby. Shelby led the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston to treat undocumented immigration as a crime.
Shelby was responsible for a radical increase in prosecutions from 2003 to 2004. His judicial district, much of which borders Mexico, accounted for nearly half of about 38,000 immigration prosecutions brought in 90 districts nationwide.
The increase in illegal alien prosecutions stemmed mostly from the 345 percent increase in Shelby's district alone. Absent the South Texas numbers, the increase would be a mere 5 percent for regions adjoining the southwestern border with Mexico, and 11 percent for the rest of the United States.
27,000 prosecuted out of 1.1 million illegal aliens arrested along the border leaves little room for hope. Nevertheless the increase in prosecutions in the South Texas District offers a slim hope that if we ever become truly dedicated to controlling the nations borders, it might be possible. Give us more officials like Attorney Shelby. Lots more.
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