Immigration Prosecutions for September 2025
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during September 2025 the government reported 5966 new immigration prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 32.5 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 (92.1%). 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 299.3 percent from levels reported in 2020.
The substantial growth in these cases is partly related to increases in the matters filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. If magistrate cases are excluded and only Federal District Court cases are counted, the overall increase in immigration prosecutions is 178.6 percent instead of 299.3 percent. The evidence suggests that part of the difference may be the result of improvements in the recording of the magistrate cases by the Justice Department.
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 September 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 September 2025, 4802 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 September 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 49.3 percent of all magistrate filings in September.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (40.3%), "08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" (7.2%).
Immigration Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In September 2025, 1164 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during September there were an additional 1939 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 September.
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 September 2025.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 2,214 1 1 1 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 317 2 2 2 More 50 USC 797 - Control of Subversive Activities 260 3 - - More 08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 165 4 4 4 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 44 5 3 3 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 8 7 15 21 More 18 USC 1001 - Fraud/false statements or entries generally 7 8 6 6 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 6 9 9 6 More 18 USC 111 - Assaulting, resisting, impeding certain officers 5 10 14 22 More 18 USC 911 - False personification - Citizen of the US 5 10 10 17 More 18 USC 1544 - Misuse of passport 5 10 7 5 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 "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.
Ranked 3rd was "Control of Subversive Activities" under Title 50 U.S.C Section 797.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 1140 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 — 11800 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 34 percent — was " Bringing in and harboring certain aliens " (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 61.4 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Misuse of passport " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1544 ).
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.
The Southern District of Texas (Houston) — with 618 prosecutions — was the most active during September 2025. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 for most frequent use five years ago.
The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd. 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.
District of New Mexico is now ranking 3rd. The District of New Mexico was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Central District of California (Los Angeles), now ranked 7th , and Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit) at 10th In the same order, these districts ranked 57th and 76th one year ago and 16th and 14th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in immigration prosecutions compared to one year ago — 20500 percent — was Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 1127.8 percent — was Southern District of Florida (Miami).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in immigration prosecutions — 47.7 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 September 2025 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Crane, Randy Texas, S 134 1 7 5 More Sweazea, Kevin R. N Mexico 130 2 - - More Fouratt, Gregory J. N Mexico 125 3 - - More Rodriguez, Fernando, Jr. Texas, S 94 4 19 19 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 88 5 4 11 More Schydlower, Leon Texas, W 86 6 8 256 More Moses, Alia M. Texas, W 75 7 1 1 More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 69 8 11 22 More Saldana, Diana Texas, S 60 9 9 3 More Guaderrama, David C. Texas, W 44 10 15 14 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 Randy Crane in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 1st with 134 defendants in immigration cases. Judge Crane appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 7) and five years ago (rank 5).
Judge Kevin R. Sweazea in the District of New Mexico ranked 2nd with 130 defendants in immigration cases.
Judge Gregory J. Fouratt in the District of New Mexico ranked 3rd with 125 defendants in immigration cases.
Report Generated: December 8, 2025
