Nineteen Percent of All Federal Prosecutions Are In Arizona

Two reports out indicate the scope of the illegal invading alien problem in Arizona.  And don't forget that these statistics are based on the ones they catch.

The Department of Homeland Security released Immigration Enforcement Actions:2010 Annual Report August 2010 (pdf).  I'm highllighting Table 1 for all those constantly whining that it isn't right that we concentrate our efforts on the souther border or that we are focusing on Mexican Nationals.  Well, of coruse we are!  84% of the alien invaders are from MExioc and come accross the southern border!

Nationality of Apprehended Aliens.

Mexican nationals accounted for 86 percent of the 613,003 aliens apprehended in 2009. The next leading countries were Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, China, and Brazil (see Table 1). 

Arizona Federal Prosecutions Driven to Record Highs

Federal prosecutions in Arizona reached an all-time high during the first eight months of fiscal year 2010, according to the latest available data from the Justice Department.

The 20,818 prosecutions filed in the state through May were up by 26 percent over the same period last year and were nearly double (up 95%) over FY 2008, the last year of the Bush administration. Indeed, the volume of filings in Arizona was nearly four times the level for the same period just five years ago, in 2005 (see Table 1).

Concentrated Federal Enforcement Efforts Focus on Arizona

For the first time, Arizona now leads the nation in terms of having more federal prosecutions than any other federal district in the country. So far this year nearly one out of every five (19%) of all prosecutions filed anywhere in the nation were brought in Arizona, up from 15 percent during the first year of the Obama administration. In contrast, the state accounts for just 2 percent of the nation's population (see Table 2).

The increased concentration of federal enforcement in Arizona during the last two years contrasts with the effort during the Bush Administration. Five years ago, for example, only 7 percent of all FY 2005 federal prosecutions were filed in Arizona. In the last years of the Bush Administration (FYs 2006-2008) this rose to 11 percent of the national total, still well below current levels.

Since they cut off the numbers in the last column, I copied them as text and made my own table from them:

One explanation for the growth in prosecutions in Arizona is the increased number of assistant U.S. attorneys in the state. According to TRAC's analysis of data from the Office of Personnel Management, full-time federal prosecutors in Arizona jumped by 36% from the end of September in 2005 to the end of March in 2010 (111 to 151). By comparison, for the nation as a whole, the increase was only 9% (5,200 to 5,657).

(WTH??  more US Attorneys cause more prosecutions??  how about more crimes and more criminals caused the need for more US Attorneys??  - Kirls)

Composition of Arizona Federal Prosecutions

Not surprisingly, immigration cases accounted for more than four out of five (84.5%) of all federal prosecutions in Arizona during FY 2010 (see Figure 2). The next largest specific group of cases were those involving drugs and narcotics (6.8%). The "Other" category in Figure 2 is comprised of a diverse group of programs. The largest specific program within the "Other" category was categorized by the Justice Department as involving white-collar crimes (4.1%).

The lead investigative agency for most prosecutions was Customs and Border Protection in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which contains the Border Patrol. This agency referred 84.2 percent of prosecutions filed this year. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also in DHS was the lead investigative agency on 7.6 percent of Arizona federal prosecutions. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was the third most active lead investigative agency, accounting for 4.1% of federal prosecutions in the state.

Table 3 provides the corresponding numbers since 2005. During the first 8 months of this year, immigration prosecutions were up 24 percent over the same period in 2010 and up 90 percent over 2008, the last year of the Bush administration, roughly similar to the overall trends in Arizona.