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TURNING MIGRANTS INTO CRIMINALS
The Harmful Impact of US Border Prosecutions
Illegal entry and reentry to the United States are today the most prosecuted federal crimes. Although immigration enforcement
is normally a civil law matter—involving fines and deportation—US officials claim that increased criminal prosecution is
necessary to deter illegal immigration and keep dangerous criminals out of the country.
Turning Migrants Into Criminals—based on statistical analysis and nearly 200 interviews with migrants, family members,
government officials, and experts— examines the recent increase in immigration prosecutions, their growing costs, and their
human impact.
Human Rights Watch found that many of these prosecutions involve defendants who are not easily deterred because they seek
to reunite with their US citizen children or other close family members; some are fleeing violence and persecution abroad. And
the US government’s own data suggests that an increasing number of non-dangerous migrants are getting swept into prison. In
2002, 42 percent of those prosecuted had prior convictions for crimes considered most serious by the US Sentencing
Commission and only 17 percent had no prior felony convictions. In 2011, those figures were well on their way to reversing: the
proportion previously convicted of the most serious offenses had dropped to 27 percent, and the proportion with no prior felony
conviction had increased to 27 percent. Meanwhile, the prosecutions impose significant financial costs on the US, from
incarceration in the expensive and overcrowded federal prison system to additional court staff, defense attorneys, prosecutors,
and US Marshals.
Turning Migrants Into Criminals concludes that the current focus on criminal prosecution of immigration offenders is misguided
and in many cases impinges on fundamental human rights. It urges US policymakers and officials to take steps to ensure that
asylum seekers and non-violent offenders seeking to rejoin loved ones are not prosecuted. More generally, it urges policymakers
to reassess the current prosecution-focused approach and ensure that government resources are being used effectively to
protect public safety and advance US immigration objectives.
Men recently deported from the United States
wait in line to be registered with Mexican
authorities at the border in Nogales, Mexico.
© 2010 Associated Press
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