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Methodology
This report is based on interviews and research conducted from February 2012 to April
2013. In all, Human Rights Watch conducted 191 interviews with individuals charged with
illegal entry or reentry, their families, unauthorized migrants who have repeatedly entered
the United States, criminal defense attorneys, immigration attorneys, prosecutors, judges,
and representatives of humanitarian and advocacy organizations. We interviewed 55
people convicted of illegal entry or reentry, and interviewed family members or lawyers in
another 18 cases—for a total of 73 separate case accounts. We examined publicly available
court records in 62 cases, including some cases for which we also had interviews and
some for which we did not. Finally, we corresponded with 35 individuals (including two
whose family members we interviewed) serving sentences in federal prison for illegal entry
or reentry, who consented to participate in our research.
The cases were identified in a variety of ways. In some cases, criminal defense or immigration
attorneys and local advocates referred us to individuals and families. In other cases,
interviews with migrants in Nogales, Tijuana, and Rosarito, Mexico led us to individuals who
had been charged with illegal entry or reentry. We also identified defendants and attorneys
through searches of news or legal databases, or communicated with the attorney or family
directly after observing a court proceeding. Most of the individuals who corresponded with us,
and some of the defendants and family members we interviewed, contacted Human Rights
Watch directly after hearing from other inmates about our research.
Our cases do not constitute a random sample, but they include non-citizens both with and
without strong ties to US families and with a variety of prior criminal records.
The cases documented in this report are largely from the federal court jurisdictions (federal
districts) with the most illegal entry and reentry prosecutions—Arizona, New Mexico, the
Western and Southern Districts of Texas, and the Southern and Central Districts of
California. Human Rights Watch conducted interviews with some defendants while they
were in detention awaiting sentencing or serving their sentences in Los Angeles, California;
Raymondville, Marfa, Pecos, and El Paso, Texas; and Florence, Arizona. We conducted
interviews with individuals who had been deported in Nogales, Tijuana, and Rosarito,
Mexico, and with family members affected by these prosecutions in Arizona, California,
9 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2013