Federal immigration prosecutions rose to record levels in 2009. Most of the cases brought in federal courts involve non-violent immigrants simply trying to cross the border in search of work or to reunite with family. Astoundingly, 54 percent of all prosecutions in federal courts are for immigration infractions.
The most prosecuted immigration crime in 2009 was “entering the United States at an improper time or place,” amounting to almost 40,000 prosecutions.
At a minimum, hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on this anti-immigrant attack. Customs and Border Protection received $3.5 billion for border patrol, and the Department of Justice received $231 million in increased funding to support the prosecutions.
Operation Streamline, a program of the Department of Homeland Security, requires that any immigrant caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border unlawfully be criminally prosecuted and imprisoned. This program has continued under the Obama administration, with the 2011 budget for DHS reaching $57 billion—the highest immigration enforcement budget in history.
