Prosecutions for September 2025
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during September 2025 the government reported 10186 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 19.5 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 (37%). 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 69 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 prosecutions is 30.4 percent instead of 69 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 September 2025 was for "Immigration", accounting for 58.6 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (9.6%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (8.2%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (6.5%), "Project Safe Childhood" (2.3%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (2.3%), "Violence-Other" (2%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in September 2025 was DHS accounting for 65 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 September 2025, 5842 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 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 40.6 percent of all magistrate filings in September.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (33.1%), "08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" (5.9%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In September 2025, 4344 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during September there were an additional 2591 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 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 2,231 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 771 2 2 3 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 584 3 3 2 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 318 4 4 5 More 50 USC 797 - Control of Subversive Activities 262 5 224 - More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 247 6 5 4 More 08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 167 7 26 27 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 148 8 7 9 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 96 10 9 6 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 136800 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 — 1426.5 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. " (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 33.9 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 — 60 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Importation of controlled substances " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 952 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In September 2025 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 2484.8 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 33,655 593 1 5 6 More Cal, S 16,352 470 2 4 3 More Texas, W 10,668 705 3 2 2 More Arizona 10,528 652 4 1 4 More D. C. 8,837 50 5 17 63 More Texas, S 8,790 759 6 3 1 More Okla, E 6,603 41 7 80 79 More S Dakota 5,696 43 8 28 24 More Ala, S 5,661 41 9 63 80 More Okla, N 5,090 47 10 29 45 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of New Mexico — with 33655 prosecutions as compared with 2484.8 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during September 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.
Western District of Texas (San Antonio) is now ranking 3rd. 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.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Washington, D.C. (Washington), now ranked 5th , and South Dakota at 8th In the same order, these districts ranked 17th and 28th one year ago and 63rd and 24th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 255.9 percent — was New Mexico . This was the same district that had the largest increase — 377.6 percent — when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 42.5 percent — was Arizona . But over the past five years, Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) showed the largest drop — 0.9 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 September 2025 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Crane, Randy Texas, S 149 1 6 6 More Sweazea, Kevin R. N Mexico 131 2 - - More Fouratt, Gregory J. N Mexico 125 3 - 843 More Rodriguez, Fernando, Jr. Texas, S 105 4 21 24 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 100 5 4 19 More Schydlower, Leon Texas, W 99 6 8 843 More Moses, Alia M. Texas, W 78 7 1 1 More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 72 8 14 37 More Saldana, Diana Texas, S 61 9 10 4 More Carreņo-Coll, Silvia Luisa Puer Rico 53 10 40 237 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 9 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings per capita, while the remaining 1 judges were from other districts.
Judge Randy Crane in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 1st with 149 defendants in cases. Judge Crane appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 6) and five years ago (rank 6).
Judge Kevin R. Sweazea in the District of New Mexico ranked 2nd with 131 defendants in cases.
Judge Gregory J. Fouratt in the District of New Mexico ranked 3rd with 125 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: December 8, 2025
