Immigration Prosecutions for July 2025
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during July 2025 the government reported 3881 new immigration prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 29.4 percent over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants charged with immigration-related offenses are based on case-by-case information obtained by TRAC under the Freedom of Information Act from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (see Table 1).
When monthly 2025 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (80.7%). Prosecutions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are up 47.9 percent from levels reported in 2020.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Immigration Prosecutions
The increase from the levels five years ago in immigration prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of immigration prosecutions of this type recorded on a month-to-month basis. Where a prosecution was initially filed in U.S. Magistrate Court and then transferred to the U.S. District Court, the magistrate filing date was used since this provides an earlier indicator of actual trends. The superimposed line on the bars plots the six-month moving average so that natural fluctuations are smoothed out. The one and five-year rates of change in Table 1 and in the sections that follow are all based upon this six-month moving average. To view trends year-by-year rather than month-by-month, see TRAC's annual report series for a broader picture.
Virtually all federal criminal prosecutions for immigration offenses in July 2025 (99 percent) were referred by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The two lead investigative agencies in DHS are Customs and Border Protection (CBP) whose border patrol agencies guard the county's borders, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), responsible for conducting most immigration criminal investigations under the immigration laws. See Figure 2.
Immigration Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In July 2025, 2840 defendants in immigration cases for these matters were filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. These courts handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called "petty offenses." In addition, complaints are sometimes filed in the magistrate courts before an indictment or information is entered. In these cases, the matter starts in the magistrate courts and later moves to the district court where subsequent proceedings take place.
In the magistrate courts in July the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 involving "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc.". This was the lead charge for 44.8 percent of all magistrate filings in July.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (43.8%), "08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" (6.4%).
Immigration Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In July 2025, 1041 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during July there were an additional 1811 defendants whose cases moved from the magistrate courts to the U.S. district courts after an indictment or information was filed. The sections which follow cover both sets of cases and therefore cover all matters filed in district court during July.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of immigration matters filed in U.S. District Court during July 2025.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 2,095 1 1 1 More 08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 245 2 3 3 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 234 3 2 2 More 50 USC 797 - Control of Subversive Activities 143 4 - - More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 60 5 4 4 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 15 6 10 10 More 18 USC 1001 - Fraud/false statements or entries generally 11 8 6 7 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 7 9 12 12 More 18 USC 3 - Accessory after the fact 5 10 5 14 More 18 USC 111 - Assaulting, resisting, impeding certain officers 5 10 13 17 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Reentry of deported alien" (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Reentry of deported alien" (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc." under Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325. "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc." under Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" under Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324. "Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" under Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 1137.3 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 that involves " Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 13700 percent — was registered for prosecutions under "Other US Code Section " (Title U.S.C Section ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 21.5 percent — was " Accessory after the fact " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 3 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 200 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " " ( ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
Understandably, there is great variation in the number of immigration prosecutions that are filed in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of prosecutions of this type last month are shown in Table 3.
Judicial District Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Texas, W 595 1 2 2 More Texas, S 455 2 3 1 More Arizona 451 3 1 3 More N Mexico 449 4 5 4 More Cal, S 348 5 4 5 More Cal, C 56 6 68 12 More Mich, E 56 6 18 11 More Fla, M 31 8 7 6 More Fla, S 29 9 6 8 More Ala, N 27 10 31 56 More Texas, N 27 10 9 9 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts
The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) — with 595 prosecutions — was the most active during July 2025. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 for most frequent use five years ago.
The Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 2nd. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 for most frequent use five years ago.
District of Arizona is now ranking 3rd. The District of Arizona was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit), now ranked 6th , and Northern District of Alabama (Birmingham) at 10th In the same order, these districts ranked 18th and 31st one year ago and 11th and 56th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in immigration prosecutions compared to one year ago — 6833.3 percent — was Central District of California (Los Angeles). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 1425 percent — was Northern District of Alabama (Birmingham).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in immigration prosecutions — 45.5 percent — was Arizona . But over the past five years, showed the largest drop — percent.
Top Ranked District Judges
At any one time, there are about 680 federal District Court judges working in the United States. The judges recorded with the largest number of new immigration crime cases of this type during July 2025 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Moses, Alia M. Texas, W 96 1 1 1 More Schydlower, Leon Texas, W 87 2 18 363 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 84 3 2 17 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 73 4 5 7 More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 72 5 12 22 More Wormuth, Gregory B. N Mexico 63 6 - - More Garcia Marmolejo, Marina Texas, S 55 7 9 3 More Madonald, Bruce Gordon Arizona 53 8 7 49 More Kimmins, Lynnette C. Arizona 52 9 4 54 More Kazen, John A. Texas, S 49 10 11 - More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
All 10 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of immigration filings.
Judge Alia M. Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 96 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Moses appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1) and five years ago (rank 1).
Judge Leon Schydlower in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 87 defendants in immigration cases.
Judge Kathleen Cardone in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 3rd with 84 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Cardone also appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago (ranked 2).
Report Generated: September 25, 2025
