(Published Monday, August 29, 2005 10:28:13 AM CDT)

Associated Press

MILWAUKEE - The number of people deported from the United States and later prosecuted for returning has shot up in eastern Wisconsin in the past four years.

Many offenders were caught after ending up in state prisons convicted of other crimes. The prosecutions are part of a crackdown nationwide that resulted from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Two people were charged with the federal crime known as "illegal re-entry after deportation" in Wisconsin's eastern district for the year ending Sept. 30, 2001. For the same period last year, 35 people were charged, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Sunday. Most of those prosecuted were Mexican nationals.

Supporters of the crackdown say sending offenders to federal prison makes them think again about returning once they are released.

Critics say the millions of dollars spent to incarcerate them could be better spent on tightening border controls.

Some $200 million a year is spent to keep illegal re-entrants in prison, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analysis based on the cost of incarcerating people whose most serious charge is illegal re-entry. Some also may have been convicted of lesser crimes.

Some Wisconsin-based federal judges have criticized the process, noting border states overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases use "fast-track" plea bargains.

Offenders caught near the Mexican border could plea bargain down to two-year prison terms or avoid incarceration altogether. In Wisconsin, offenders could face longer sentences.

"I do believe if this court is going to be fair and reasonable, I cannot overlook this disparity," U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller said during a recent sentencing hearing in Milwaukee. "In other words, if it's good for Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas and the state of Washington ... it ought to be applied uniformly across the land."

U.S. Attorney Steven M. Biskupic said he and other federal prosecutors were given a federal mandate to increase immigration prosecutions after the terrorist attacks.

U.S. attorneys nationwide charged 21,000 immigration cases in 2003, according to a recent analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, based at Syracuse University in New York.

That number rose to about 38,000 last year. Of those cases, just seven were linked to international terrorism, according to the study.

"There was a recognition that the system as a whole needed to be tightened on all levels, not just those dealing with how the 9-11 terrorists entered the country," Biskupic said. "... We try to focus on the people that have given the indication that they are the most dangerous, those who have shown themselves to be a risk for repeat drug dealing or violent crime."

As a general rule, Biskupic said his office doesn't prosecute people for illegal re-entry unless they qualify for the 20-year prison term.

Robert J. McWhirter, an assistant federal defender in Arizona and author of a book on immigration law, questions whether the crackdown is worth it. He said the increasing number of prosecutions hasn't stopped people from entering the country.

"The penalty structure is far too expensive of a way to get the amount of deterrence you get," he said.