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U.S. Criminal Cases Against Immigrants Reach Record High

By David Badertscher, PLL

Source:  Crime & Justice News

"Federal criminal prosecutions of immigrants surged

to a record high in March, as immigration cases

accounted for the majority - 57 percent - of new

federal criminal cases brought nationwide, said a

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC)

report quoted by the New York Times. Immigration

cases made up more than half of new federal

prosecutions in February, reflecting an emphasis on

immigration by the Bush administration and a policy

shift to expand the use of criminal, rather than civil,

charges. The group obtained the figures through the

Freedom of Information Act.

Most cases were in districts along the border with

Mexico and were part of a rapidly expanding program

by the Border Patrol and the Justice Department to

press criminal charges against virtually all immigrants

caught crossing the border illegally in some

sectors. 'We've never seen such a surge at the

national level,' said David Burnham, TRAC co-

director. 'They are deciding that the use of criminal

law is the way to solve the border patrol problem.' The

report said 99 percent of people referred to federal

prosecutors for immigration offenses in March were

charged. 'Any immigration case that comes through

the door is going to be prosecuted,' Burnham

said. 'That's astonishing.' Sentences for those

convicted were short, with the median being one

month."

New York Times - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001iRDz8EdqRYIvwD7GuDSqKORl6rvVHUQx3H-kgs8HNCywiTc_0CkVV05vu85tORidBB7qQ4TiDLkBs_zsRZP3Jix-unjFcMGDHjANVGtf3AmCefYyi2xH8ZfCAKrfAUZyjHuJMYAYpRvJLArTCAFzd3HqiQ3rT9OLFgcBxFhd0x20vutZt0W1ydF9DHpjMT8D6OEPp6a6y3c=

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on June 18, 2008 (boomark / email).