WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has sharply ratcheted up prosecutions of illegal immigrants along the U.S.- Mexico border in the last year, with increases so drastic that immigration offenses now account for as much as half of the nation’s federal criminal caseload.
In the widening crackdown, administration officials prosecuted 9,350 illegal immigrants on federal criminal charges in March, a 73 percent increase over prosecutions in March 2007, and an all-time high, according to statistics released Tuesday.
Convicted people have received jail sentences averaging about one month.
The prosecutions are among the most visible steps in a larger effort that includes work- site raids, increased border patrols and the use of technology and fences.
The patchwork of measures represents the administration’s response to failed congressional attempts to overhaul federal laws.
The statistical analysis was compiled by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, considered an authoritative source for such figures.
