Attorney General Jeff Sessions has notified all U.S. Attorney’s Offices along the Southwest Border of a new “zero-tolerance policy” for offenses under 8 U.S.C. § 1325(a), which prohibits both attempted illegal entry and illegal entry into the United States by an alien.
The implementation of the Attorney General’s zero-tolerance policy comes as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported a 203 percent increase in illegal border crossings from March 2017 to March 2018, and a 37 percent increase from February 2018 to March 2018—the largest month-to-month increase since 2011.
“The situation at our Southwest Border is unacceptable.”
“Congress has failed to pass effective legislation that serves the national interest—that closes dangerous loopholes and fully funds a wall along our southern border.”
“As a result, a crisis has erupted at our Southwest Border that necessitates an escalated effort to prosecute those who choose to illegally cross our border,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
“To those who wish to challenge the Trump Administration’s commitment to public safety, national security, and the rule of law, I warn you: illegally entering this country will not be rewarded, but will instead be met with the full prosecutorial powers of the Department of Justice.”
“To the Department’s prosecutors, I urge you: promoting and enforcing the rule of law is vital to protecting a nation, its borders, and its citizens.”
“You play a critical part in fulfilling these goals, and I thank you for your continued efforts in seeing to it that our laws—and as a result, our nation—are respected.”
On April 11, 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a renewed commitment to criminal immigration enforcement.
(Attorney General Jeff Sessions used a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border to talk tough on immigration. He said U.S. attorneys around the country will devote more resources to prosecuting immigration offenses, including illegal re-entry to the country, document fraud, identity theft and smuggling undocumented immigrants across the border. Courtesy of HuffPost and YouTube. Posted on Apr 12, 2017)
Today’s zero-tolerance policy further directs each U.S. Attorney’s Office along the Southwest Border (i.e., Southern District of California, District of Arizona, District of New Mexico, Western District of Texas, and the Southern District of Texas) to adopt a policy to prosecute all Department of Homeland Security referrals of section 1325(a) violations, to the extent practicable.
(Learn about U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and its tremendously complex and important mission. As the nation’s largest law enforcement agency, they are responsible for securing our borders while facilitating lawful travel and trade. Courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and YouTube)
CBP Enforcement Statistics for FY2018 March
CBP remains Committed to Transparency, Accountability
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has released enforcement statistics on CBP.gov which reflect the latest metrics detail enforcement actions for fiscal year 2018 ending in March.
Categories include the arrests of individuals with criminal convictions, nationwide apprehensions by gang affiliation, and total nationwide narcotics seizures.
In FY2017, Officers and Agents arrested more than 20,000 criminal aliens and nearly 11,000 individuals who were wanted by law enforcement authorities; and seized more than 2.14 million pounds of narcotics, including nearly 1,500 pounds of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the nation’s largest federal law enforcement agency charged with securing the nation’s borders and facilitating international travel and trade. Our top priority is to keep terrorists and their weapons from entering the United States.
At the nation’s more than 300 ports of entry, CBP officers have a complex mission with broad law enforcement authorities tied to screening all foreign visitors, returning American citizens and imported cargo that enters the U.S. Along the nation’s borders, the United States Border Patrol and Air and Marine Operations are the uniformed law enforcement arms of CBP responsible for securing U.S. borders between ports of entry.
(Learn More. See in action the humanitarian efforts conducted everyday by the men and women of the United States Border Patrol, our heroes, who go above and beyond the call of duty and always place service before self. Courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and YouTube)
The following is a summary of CBP enforcement actions related to inadmissibles, apprehensions, arrests of individuals with criminal convictions and individuals who have been apprehended multiple times crossing the border illegally.
TOTAL CBP ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
Numbers below reflect FY2016 and FY2017 totals, FY2018TD (October 1, 2017 – March 31, 2018)
| FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018TD | |
|---|---|---|---|
| OFFICE OF FIELD OPERATIONS (OFO) | |||
| Total Inadmissibles1 | 274,821 | 199,844 | 112,482 |
| U.S. BORDER PATROL | |||
| Total Apprehensions2 | 415,816 | 310,531 | 177,021 |
| Total Enforcement Actions | 690,637 | 487,481 | 289,503 |
1Inadmissibles refers to individuals encountered at ports of entry who are seeking lawful admission into the United States but are determined to be inadmissible, individuals presenting themselves to seek humanitarian protection under our laws, and individuals who withdraw an application for admission and return to their countries of origin within a short timeframe.
2Apprehensions refers to the physical control or temporary detainment of a person who is not lawfully in the U.S. which may or may not result in an arrest.
ARRESTS OF INDIVIDUALS WITH CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS OR THOSE WANTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT
Numbers below reflect FY2016-2017 totals, FY2018TD (October 1, 2017 – March 31, 2018)
| FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018TD | |
|---|---|---|---|
| OFFICE OF FIELD OPERATIONS | |||
| Criminal Aliens3 Encountered | 14,090 | 10,596 | 5,558 |
| NCIC4 Arrests | 8,129 | 6,966 | 3,793 |
| U.S. BORDER PATROL | |||
| Criminal Aliens3 Encountered | 12,842 | 8,531 | 4,064 |
| Criminal Aliens with Outstanding Wants or Warrants | 3,697 | 2,675 | 1,462 |
3Criminal Aliens refers to aliens who have been convicted of crime, whether in the United States or abroad, so long as the conviction is for conduct which is deemed criminal by the United States. Criminal aliens encountered at ports of entry are inadmissible, absent extenuating circumstances, and represent a subset of total OFO inadmissibles.
U.S. Border Patrol arrests of criminal aliens are a subset of total apprehensions.
See U.S. Border Patrol Criminal Alien Statistics for a breakdown of criminal alien stats by type of conviction.
4NCIC (National Crime Information Center) arrests refers to the number of CBP arrests of individuals, including U.S. citizens, who are wanted by other law enforcement agencies.
Office of Field Operations Drug Seizures (to March 31, 2018)
| FY2012 | FY2013 | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018TD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cocaine | 45,260 | 39,075 | 41,312 | 38,145 | 52,803 | 56,729 | 32,867 |
| Heroin | 3,780 | 3,990 | 4,314 | 5,530 | 4,223 | 3,626 | 2,479 |
| Marijuana | 522,614 | 469,995 | 437,950 | 602,795 | 515,382 | 338,676 | 171,219 |
| Metham-phetamine | 14,131 | 20,739 | 23,234 | 29,001 | 37,704 | 44,065 | 33,187 |
| Fentanyl | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 440 | 951.54 | ** 793 |
*weights are in pounds (lb)
** Fentanyl statistics reflected here are through February 28. March totals will be provided next month.
U.S. Border Patrol Drug Seizures (to March 31, 2018)
| FY2012 | FY2013 | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018TD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cocaine | 12,161 | 4,696 | 4,554 | 11,220 | 5,473 | 9,346 | 2,957 |
| Heroin | 430 | 576 | 606 | 518 | 566 | 953 | 263 |
| Marijuana | 2,299,864 | 2,430,123 | 1,922,545 | 1,538,307 | 1,294,052 | 861,231 | 296,678 |
| Meth-amphe-tamine | 3,715 | 3,580 | 3,930 | 6,443 | 8,224 | 10,328 | 5,110 |
| Fentanyl | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 181 | 276 |
*weights are in pounds (lb)
(Learn More. The Laredo Sector Border Patrol is responsible for securing 171 miles of river border and keeping our communities safe through the deployment of personnel, technology and infrastructure. Courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and YouTube)
USBP Nationwide Apprehensions by Gang Affiliation
FY2014 – FY2018TD through March 31, 2018
| Gang Affiliation | FY2014 | FY2015 | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18th Street | 96 | 84 | 47 | 61 | 52 |
| Angelino Heights Sureno 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Bandidos | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Barrio Azteca | 7 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Border Brothers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brown Pride | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Folk Nation | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hard Times 13 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Hells Angels | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Hermanos Pistoleros Latinos (HPL) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Latin Kings | 17 | 16 | 18 | 6 | 4 |
| Los Zetas | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| MS-13 | 437 | 335 | 253 | 228 | 181 |
| Mara-R | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Maravilla Salva Trucha | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Mexican Mafia | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Mexicles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mexikanemi | 7 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Nortenos | 13 | 14 | 5 | 6 | 4 |
| Other | 183 | 154 | 136 | 90 | 45 |
| Outlaws | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Paisas | 86 | 73 | 119 | 53 | 33 |
| Partido Revolucionario Mexican (PRM) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Playboys | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| South Los | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Surenos (sur-13) | 160 | 140 | 90 | 66 | 31 |
| Tango Blast | 18 | 14 | 16 | 8 | 3 |
| Texas Syndicate | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| West Park | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Zetas | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 1034 | 844 | 702 | 536 | 360 |
U.S. Border Patrol Recidivism Rates
| FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | FY16 | FY17 | |
| Recidivism5 | 16% | 14% | 14% | 12% | 10% |
5Recidivism refers to percentage of individuals apprehended more than one time by the Border Patrol within a fiscal year.
Visit CBP’s Southwest Border Migration page for demographic information regarding apprehensions and inadmissibles on the southwest border and the Use of Force page for use-of-force statistics and case summaries.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation’s borders at and between the official ports of entry.
CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.
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