Report: Immigration, Citizenship, and the Federal Justice System, 1998-2018

• In 1998, 63% of all federal arrests were of U.S. citizens; in 2018, 64% of all federal arrests were of non-U.S. citizens.


• Non-U.S. citizens, who make up 7% of the U.S. population (per the U.S. Census Bureau for 2017), accounted for 15% of all federal arrests and 15% of prosecutions in U.S. district court for non-immigration crimes in 2018.


• The portion of total federal arrests that took place in the five judicial districts along the U.S.-Mexico border almost doubled from 1998 (33%) to 2018 (65%).


• Ninety-five percent of the increase in federal arrests across 20 years was due to immigration offenses.


• In 2018, 90% of suspects arrested for federal immigration crimes were male; 10% were female.

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