Few Immigration Criminal Prosecutions, While Non-Immigration Prosecutions Rebound

Federal criminal prosecutions nationally have largely returned to the pace that prevailed before the pandemic hit and federal offices closed in mid-March across the country. This is true except for prosecutions for immigration offenses which have not returned to their pre-pandemic levels. See Figure 1. (See Table 1 at the end of the report for month-by-month prosecution counts.)

Two federal agencies within the Department of Homeland Security—Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—are the source of most immigration criminal referrals[1]. As shown in Figure 2A, federal prosecutors continue to receive few referrals from CBP. CBP is largely responsible for arresting immigrants for illegal entry and illegal reentry along the country's border with Mexico and historically has accounted for the most immigration prosecutions. With the pandemic, the Trump Administration has instituted a policy to quickly deport individuals attempting to enter the country illegally in place of detaining them and referring them for criminal prosecution. The decline in immigration referrals from CBP to federal prosecutors, therefore, appears to be driven at least partially by a policy change within the administration that prioritizes deportation over prosecution. As we also see in Figure 2B, thus far criminal referrals from interior enforcement by ICE officials have recovered much—but not all—of the ground they lost during the early months of the pandemic.

District-by-District Patterns

Non-immigration criminal prosecution levels have largely recovered in most U.S. Attorney offices across the country. These findings are based on analyses of case-by-case Department of Justice records, updated through August 2020, obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University after litigation under the Freedom of Information Act. Once immigration prosecutions are set aside, the volume of federal prosecutions filed in the vast majority of U.S. Attorney offices across the country are now occurring at rates similar to those before the pandemic hit and the closure in mid-March of federal offices.

However, not every location has recovered. Prosecution levels, for example, have not fully rebounded in the Southern District of New York (Manhattan). See Figure 3A. Nor in the Southern District of Florida. See Figure 3B. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) and the Northern District of California (San Francisco) have also not fully rebounded. But while these districts are home to large metropolitan areas, other big-city districts such as the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) have largely recovered. Further, federal prosecutions in districts in more rural parts of the country such as Maine and Vermont have also been slow to rebound. Out of the ninety federal judicial districts in the U.S., prosecution levels are still below pre-pandemic levels in 14 out of 90. These districts are highlighted in Table 2 below. An additional 6 have prosecution levels that are somewhat below their prior typical levels.

Month-by-month counts of criminal prosecutions (excluding those for immigration offenses) for each U.S. Attorney office are shown below in Table 2. Also shown is the monthly average for the period before the pandemic (August 2019 - February 2020) which can be compared with the monthly filing pattern post-pandemic. Highlighted are offices where none of the months since the federal offices were closed because of COVID-19 have rebounded to the average level that prevailed during the pre-pandemic period.

Table 2. Federal Non-Immigration Criminal Prosecutions
by Federal Judicial District,
August 2019 - August 2020

Judicial District	Number of Non-Immigration Criminal Prosecutions Filed by Month													Aug'19-Feb'20
Judicial District	2019-08	2019-09	2019-10	2019-11	2019-12	2020-01	2020-02	2020-03	2020-04	2020-05	2020-06	2020-07	2020-08	Average	Compare*
All	5,687	6,212	5,756	5,142	4,818	4,713	5,346	4,310	1,717	2,556	4,564	5,181	5,324	5,382
Ala, M	2	27	3	16	12	33	22	26	0	1	0	21	2	16
Ala, N	38	133	9	88	34	13	62	44	4	2	58	19	66	54
Ala, S	23	36	5	42	3	30	40	13	0	6	31	1	31	26
Alaska	25	11	20	17	5	24	1	28	2	0	6	20	23	15
Arizona	165	182	173	167	176	160	168	120	30	41	55	67	97	170	Below
Ark, E	71	72	100	72	48	75	47	45	4	10	41	120	49	69
Ark, W	41	13	31	37	5	17	5	44	2	2	5	24	56	21
Cal, C	215	180	171	115	156	105	182	163	77	60	45	135	134	161	Slight Below
Cal, E	74	66	36	70	48	41	47	14	12	7	34	23	13	55	Below
Cal, N	97	122	67	77	88	51	78	37	18	49	57	50	53	83	Below
Cal, S	282	367	213	270	206	192	212	134	137	213	374	471	322	249
Colorao	40	28	36	39	22	67	55	21	10	11	25	66	45	41
Conn	33	38	46	30	14	39	17	34	13	26	20	30	20	31
D. C.	43	41	39	42	48	31	72	25	15	20	23	38	25	45	Slight Below
Delaware	7	1	0	8	10	5	7	4	0	3	5	8	6	5
Fla, M	145	121	159	112	86	92	112	62	19	32	121	81	69	118
Fla, N	23	34	29	57	19	14	16	18	0	20	48	26	38	27
Fla, S	147	195	146	130	119	82	125	80	28	22	30	28	25	135	Below
Ga, M	67	47	25	65	32	31	47	43	4	1	70	21	32	45
Ga, N	52	83	135	80	35	54	52	117	43	11	40	92	55	70
Ga, S	32	91	38	39	26	68	19	57	18	28	113	83	39	45
Hawaii	38	37	52	22	46	50	61	17	13	27	28	54	54	44
Idaho	34	18	20	47	21	31	33	8	3	5	46	33	22	29
Ill, C	25	28	23	30	25	17	52	40	3	6	26	40	32	29
Ill, N	93	67	43	72	54	99	47	38	7	40	60	126	107	68
Ill, S	34	28	34	34	9	18	26	33	5	6	45	38	46	26
Ind, N	44	38	37	38	30	26	46	20	10	10	31	49	56	37
Ind, S	52	34	49	34	53	67	49	62	13	8	37	59	59	48
Iowa, N	29	53	29	25	22	17	37	12	4	32	40	39	25	30
Iowa, S	34	58	37	59	66	35	44	26	7	30	64	41	43	48
Kansas	90	35	64	21	41	42	58	38	3	7	25	24	26	50	Below
Ken, E	41	49	50	35	48	49	38	57	1	19	47	40	38	44
Ken, W	35	23	35	31	32	13	10	50	9	7	22	36	26	26
La, E	25	32	33	24	17	15	25	16	0	1	12	17	19	24	Slight Below
La, M	9	23	12	13	10	24	7	6	0	1	5	11	3	14	Slight Below
La, W	42	62	62	33	22	26	60	11	1	20	31	45	15	44
Maine	21	28	18	26	21	27	15	7	0	6	11	7	10	22	Below
Maryland	61	35	74	43	52	45	64	47	10	5	19	59	57	53
Mass	72	87	43	74	88	58	51	19	22	4	13	69	51	68
Mich, E	68	85	66	40	56	46	46	41	17	11	51	52	50	58	Slight Below
Mich, W	45	30	33	18	35	26	28	3	7	18	39	26	20	31
Minnesota	35	23	33	54	39	20	27	19	1	39	26	26	44	33
Miss, N	10	19	16	0	11	8	13	0	1	0	1	0	12	11
Miss, S	25	39	21	31	4	42	33	20	11	9	32	17	40	28
Mo, E	113	149	128	95	81	106	112	67	15	70	66	87	134	112
Mo, W	80	53	108	96	95	87	62	46	2	27	81	86	125	83
Montana	31	29	38	22	22	18	30	26	6	23	51	45	49	27
N Car, E	105	70	77	46	70	80	65	51	70	99	96	84	89	73
N Car, M	72	26	62	34	35	20	34	9	1	40	70	50	13	40
N Car, W	68	47	63	35	71	18	66	54	25	47	75	60	63	53
N Dakota	49	45	19	22	18	13	65	22	10	11	53	58	48	33
N Mexico	81	71	72	77	59	45	119	41	28	52	93	59	87	75
N. J.	56	54	150	190	97	134	88	102	20	35	74	84	54	110	Below
N. Y., E	110	112	82	57	43	74	61	30	5	28	14	39	50	77	Below
N. Y., N	41	23	55	12	9	50	37	30	4	25	17	20	50	32
N. Y., S	135	169	162	197	172	145	195	190	23	18	64	68	72	168	Below
N. Y., W	35	75	39	29	31	31	39	37	36	43	54	40	54	40
Nebraska	51	44	36	29	51	63	34	6	4	9	98	53	28	44
Nevada	43	55	61	45	30	34	33	35	26	35	41	64	57	43
New Hamp	8	26	22	20	32	29	16	11	5	1	6	7	20	22
Ohio, N	91	84	101	69	67	82	73	126	14	52	87	86	96	81
Ohio, S	53	85	64	87	30	51	50	63	28	15	48	46	58	60
Okla, E	7	34	4	11	9	17	4	5	0	0	15	16	30	12
Okla, N	30	19	49	23	19	14	19	9	9	7	27	27	79	25
Okla, W	55	25	62	41	123	45	37	37	7	50	57	59	25	55
Oregon	78	86	71	34	54	23	37	46	36	39	41	97	109	55
Penn, E	51	104	57	29	30	57	29	37	7	15	13	15	65	51
Penn, M	24	23	35	12	26	25	51	21	2	2	45	68	50	28
Penn, W	45	48	59	54	39	44	34	39	4	51	130	52	160	46
R. I.	14	16	11	24	13	10	15	4	5	5	7	25	19	15
S Car	45	46	25	52	61	34	39	52	12	5	21	41	63	43
S Dakota	41	32	42	24	53	56	53	62	10	15	16	75	84	43
Tenn, E	80	98	96	67	81	55	82	65	14	8	16	26	32	80	Below
Tenn, M	42	16	32	21	51	36	38	10	6	2	10	12	25	34	Below
Tenn, W	74	66	25	69	44	45	55	18	7	5	31	30	36	54	Below
Texas, E	85	65	76	86	75	72	97	101	11	36	162	120	83	79
Texas, N	155	252	182	161	104	170	170	127	27	120	167	120	125	171	Slight Below
Texas, S	245	319	237	162	183	209	233	271	103	130	204	169	205	227	Below
Texas, W	180	258	222	183	179	178	166	165	118	113	134	262	244	195
Utah	48	46	81	60	60	47	52	43	23	27	28	74	92	56
Vermont	12	12	16	9	14	30	15	2	7	9	9	6	8	15	Below
Virg, E	247	226	259	170	223	192	351	216	300	261	175	161	223	238
Virg, W	41	58	64	32	49	63	36	40	9	13	54	48	25	49
W Virg, N	39	22	24	6	20	9	21	91	1	3	13	44	93	20
W Virg, S	35	64	24	20	22	22	25	18	6	10	19	34	45	30
Wash, E	14	17	22	30	38	9	21	25	8	2	24	14	22	22
Wash, W	48	38	68	39	40	40	48	10	41	59	42	42	76	46
Wisc, E	18	30	17	33	46	10	72	10	3	0	45	60	18	32
Wisc, W	15	32	12	14	16	9	15	9	5	8	24	23	8	16
Wyoming	9	27	19	59	56	25	22	29	15	31	7	29	7	31

^[1] See earlier TRAC reports covering criminal referrals and prosecutions through March 2020, April 2020 and June 2020 covering earlier criminal prosecution trends by these and other federal agencies who served as the the lead investigative agencies.