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Diverting Resources from Serious Crimes
A number of law enforcement officials have noted that the increasing criminal prosecution
of unauthorized immigrants with no or minor prior criminal histories has diverted
resources from more pressing law enforcement and border security concerns.
Terry Goddard, who was attorney general of Arizona from 2003 to 2011, has been
outspoken in his criticism of the federal government’s border enforcement policies. “I
never could understand why so much was being put into these particular individuals, who
were not our high-level criminals…. [I]t’s a use of resources disproportionate to the threat,”
he told Human Rights Watch. He also asserted,
Certainly apprehending and deterring illegal entry is part of border security,
but it’s not the whole enchilada. Border security involves criminal
conspiracy, significant criminal conspiracy.... I see a failure of law
enforcement, a failure of basic intelligence, to analyze the operations of the
cartels to identify their leaders and disrupt their operations.… Some of the
resources that went into deportation and Operation Streamline could have
been used very effectively for international cooperation and the detection,
the analysis, prosecution, and incarceration of some of [their leaders]. 101
Goddard said that if the US government were serious about going after illegal entry by
migrants, they would target resources on smugglers and not the individuals who are
smuggled. According to a Justice Department report, in 2010, “alien smuggling”
represented only 4.7 percent of all immigration matters concluded, while unlawful entry or
reentry constituted 93 percent. 102
In 2012, Arizona US Marshal David Gonzales said that 80 percent of the individuals
detained under his jurisdiction were arrested on an immigration charge, and he echoed the
101 Human Rights Watch interview with Terry Goddard, former Arizona attorney general, Phoenix, Arizona, April 1, 2013.
102 Motivans, “Immigration Offenders in the Federal Justice System, 2010,” July 2012. Notably, almost half of all defendants
charged with “alien smuggling” are US citizens, while over 99 percent of defendants charged of illegal entry or reentry are
non-citizens (0.3 percent of defendants were found to be US citizens).
41 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2013