Prosecutions for October 2025
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during October 2025 the government reported 9491 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 6.8 percent over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants charged 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 (35%). 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 47.7 percent from levels reported in 2020.
The 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 prosecutions is 10.4 percent instead of 47.7 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 Prosecutions
The increase from the levels five years ago in prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of 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.
Cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
The largest number of prosecutions of these matters in October 2025 was for "Immigration", accounting for 56.9 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (9.9%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (9.7%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (7%), "Project Safe Childhood" (2.3%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in October 2025 was DHS accounting for 64 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: FBI (11% ), DEA (7%), ATF (7%), Local (2%). See Figure 3.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In October 2025, 5130 defendants 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 October the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326 involving "Reentry of deported alien". This was the lead charge for 36.2 percent of all magistrate filings in October.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc." (35.1%), "08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" (5.5%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In October 2025, 4361 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during October there were an additional 2752 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 October.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during October 2025.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 2,623 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 663 2 2 3 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 521 3 3 2 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 389 4 4 5 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 266 5 5 4 More 50 USC 797 - Control of Subversive Activities 262 6 220 - More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 175 8 7 8 More 18 USC 2250 - Fail to register as sex offender after traveling interstate commerce 81 9 10 11 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 81 9 9 9 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 "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 841. "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 841 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Firearms; Unlawful acts" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 922. "Firearms; Unlawful acts" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 was ranked 3 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 162900 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 50 U.S.C Section 797 that involves " Control of Subversive Activities ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 153 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Reentry of deported alien " (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 32.1 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 — 30.5 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Attempt and conspiracy " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In October 2025 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 2509.7 prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of prosecutions that are filed in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of prosecutions per capita for these matters last month are shown in Table 3. Districts must have at least 5 prosecutions to receive a ranking.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago N Mexico 35,151 624 1 5 6 More Cal, S 15,618 453 2 4 3 More Texas, S 11,820 1,052 3 3 1 More Arizona 11,490 726 4 1 4 More Texas, W 10,423 704 5 2 2 More S Dakota 6,979 53 6 29 25 More Okla, N 5,669 53 7 31 46 More Okla, E 5,595 35 8 78 78 More N Dakota 4,369 29 9 52 40 More Vermont 4,256 23 10 83 83 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of New Mexico — with 35151 prosecutions as compared with 2509.7 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during October 2025. The District of New Mexico was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 6 for most frequent use five years ago.
The Southern District of California (San Diego) ranked 2nd. The Southern District of California (San Diego) was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 for most frequent use five years ago.
Southern District of Texas (Houston) is now ranking 3rd. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were South Dakota , now ranked 6th , and Northern District of Oklahoma (Tulsa) at 7th In the same order, these districts ranked 29th and 31st one year ago and 25th and 46th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 282 percent — was New Mexico . This was the same district that had the largest increase — 381.5 percent — when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 43.6 percent — was Arizona . But over the past five years, North Dakota showed the largest drop — 27.8 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 crime cases of this type during October 2025 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Crane, Randy Texas, S 186 1 6 4 More Rodriguez, Fernando, Jr. Texas, S 157 2 20 18 More Garcia Marmolejo, Marina Texas, S 117 3 15 3 More Schydlower, Leon Texas, W 91 4 8 803 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 84 5 5 24 More Moses, Alia M. Texas, W 84 5 1 1 More Olvera, Jose Rolando, Jr. Texas, S 82 7 21 17 More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 81 8 14 45 More Wormuth, Gregory B. N Mexico 81 8 - - More Saldana, Diana Texas, S 80 10 10 6 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 filings per capit.
Judge Randy Crane in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 1st with 186 defendants in cases. Judge Crane appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 6) and five years ago (rank 4).
Judge Fernando Rodriguez, Jr. in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 2nd with 157 defendants in cases.
Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 117 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: February 19, 2026
