| Referrals for Criminal Prosecution of Immigration Violations | ||
| (29 Jul 2025)
The number of individuals criminally prosecuted for immigration violations continues to climb. Most of
these are for noncitizens caught by Border Patrol (BP) agents attempting to enter the U.S. between
ports of entry. These individuals are increasingly being sent by Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
to federal prosecutors to be criminally prosecuted before they are deported.
The number of individuals criminally prosecuted for illegal entry and related violations jumped from 3,344 in February to 6,885 prosecutions filed in May 2025. The number of BP apprehensions during this same period was essentially little changed. Border Patrol referrals to federal prosecutors were much higher during the first Trump administration at a time when large increases in border arrests were taking place. Almost all CBP referrals—some 97 percent—were received by one of the five U.S. Attorneys' Offices along our country’s southwest border with Mexico. CBP reports it makes around 85 percent of its apprehensions there, and only 15 percent along our northern and coastal borders. TRAC estimates that three-quarters of adults (77%) apprehended by Border Patrol agents in May 2025 were referred for criminal prosecution. This proportion rose from 55 percent in March, to 64 percent in April and 77 percent in May. In contrast, relatively few individuals arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are being referred for criminal prosecution, and while ICE arrests climbed in May, its criminal referrals dropped by 16.5 percent from their number in March. This Administration’s almost single-minded focus on immigration has meant that the investigation and prosecution of all of the thousands of other federal criminal statutes the federal government is responsible for enforcing are receiving less attention. During May 2025, the CBP and ICE together referred 7.0 times more cases to federal prosecutors than the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and 7.3 times more cases than the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). CBP and ICE together referred 3.3 times more cases than the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). These results are based on TRAC’s analysis of the latest case-by-case records from internal files covering each criminal referral received by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices. These records record the agency making the referral and were obtained by TRAC through a court order issued under the Freedom of Information Act.
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Copyright 2025