01/13/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/13/2025 13:48
PHOENIX, Ariz. - Today, the United States Attorney's Office announced its immigration enforcement statistics for October 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024. These cases are prosecuted in partnership with the Tucson and Yuma Sectors of the Customs and Border Protection's U.S. Border Patrol, along with Homeland Security Investigations, and assistance from other federal, state, and county agencies. In the three-month period ending December 31, 2024, the United States brought criminal charges in Arizona against 3,141 individuals who illegally entered or re-entered the United States. In its ongoing effort to deter unlawful immigration, the United States also filed 309 cases against individuals responsible for smuggling undocumented noncitizens to and within the District of Arizona. In this time period, the United States also prosecuted 46 reactive drug cases arising out of immigration ports of entry and checkpoints.
Reducing migrant smuggling and mitigating the risk to communities impacted by these offenses continue to be priorities for the Office and its law enforcement partners. Some of these prosecutions are directed against leaders and coordinators of alien smuggling organizations, including from Mexico and from Colombia, and also including those tied to larger transnational criminal organizations. Alien smugglers can also be home-grown, and it is often citizens of the United States who engage in dangerous crimes that hurt or kill economic migrants. Other prosecutions are aimed at deterring young adult drivers, often recruited over social media platforms, from engaging in this dangerous activity. Prosecutions against young drivers include cases brought against two juvenile smugglers during this time period, and the Office has successfully sought justice against those responsible for the online recruitment.
Protecting law enforcement officers is a key part of border vigilance. During this time period, federal prosecutors brought charges against two defendants accused of assaulting federal officers.
These statistics represent United States Attorney's Office prosecutions only. The numbers do not include individuals apprehended by immigration enforcement officials and subjected solely to administrative process.
RELEASE NUMBER: 2025-002_2024 Fourth Quarter Immigration Enforcement Statistics
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For more information on the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/
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Public Affairs
Zach J. Stoebe
Telephone: 602.514.7413
[email protected]