Cases against immigrants multiply
THEY NOW MAKE UP HALF U.S. CASELOAD
By Nicole Gaouette
Los Angeles Times
Article Launched: 06/18/2008 01:31:54 AM PDT

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has sharply ratcheted up prosecutions of illegal immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in the past year, with increases so dramatic that immigration offenses now account for as much as half of the nation's federal criminal caseload.

In the widening crackdown, administration officials prosecuted 9,350 illegal immigrants on federal criminal charges in March 2008, a 73 percent increase over prosecutions last year and an all-time high, according to statistics released Tuesday. Convicted people have received jail sentences averaging about one month.

The prosecutions are among the most visible steps in a larger effort that includes work site raids, increased border patrols and the use of technology and fences. Often controversial, the patchwork of measures represents the administration's response to failed congressional attempts last summer to overhaul federal laws.

Administration officials and conservative groups have lauded the surge in prosecutions. But critics say data shows illegal immigrants still are trying to enter the country. Some attorneys contend that the push to criminalize illegal immigrants is overwhelming a federal court system with limited resources and higher priorities.

The statistical analysis released Tuesday was compiled by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, considered an authoritative source for such figures, which called the increase "highly unusual."

Of 16,298 federal criminal prosecutions recorded nationwide in March 2008, immigration accounted for more than half, the analysis found. The next highest number of prosecutions were for drug offenses at 2,674, followed by 702 prosecutions for white-collar crime.

California is not formally a part the border crackdown, officially known as Operation Streamline. But prosecutions of people who smuggle illegal immigrants into the country along the California border have increased sharply in the past five years, nearly doubling to 118 cases in March.
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