![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sut-l-immigration-prosecutions-3a.jpg\")
A Border Patrol agent along the U.S.-Mexico border on Sept. 3 in San Diego. (Ana Ramirez \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\nWhen President Donald Trump came back into office in January, his administration immediately directed federal prosecutors across the country to charge potential criminal defendants with the most serious provable crimes, placing a special emphasis on immigration-related prosecutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Department of Justice shall use all available criminal statutes to combat the flood of illegal immigration that took place over the last four years,\u201d Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a memo to federal prosecutors shortly after she was sworn in.<\/p>\n
Since that time, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Southern District of California, which covers San Diego and Imperial counties, appears to be faithfully carrying out the administration\u2019s directives. At a time when immigrant apprehensions along the border have plummeted, federal criminal prosecutions of undocumented border-crossers in the San Diego and Imperial Valley region have spiked, according to data from the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Department of Justice\u2019s guidance from January and February 2025 contributed to a remarkable achievement \u2014 the securing of the border,\u201d the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Southern District of California said in a statement. \u201cEncounters reaching historic lows demonstrate the powerful deterrent effect of increased criminal prosecutions on those who would consider attempting to illegally enter the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decrease in immigrant apprehensions at ports of entry and areas in between by Border Patrol agents and customs officers began last year when President Joe Biden enacted stricter asylum restrictions, but those encounters fell at an even higher rate when Trump took office.<\/p>\n
A Border Patrol agent along the U.S.-Mexico border on Sept. 3 in San Diego. (Ana Ramirez \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the increase in prosecutions and the directives from DOJ to charge more individuals with immigration offenses is reminiscent of Trump\u2019s first term, when he enacted a zero-tolerance policy aimed at criminally charging all undocumented immigrants<\/a>.<\/p>\n Though total prosecution numbers were much higher during Trump\u2019s first term because of increased apprehensions, a recent report<\/a> from Syracuse University\u2019s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse found that the proportion of people being charged criminally after they\u2019re apprehended at the border is higher now than even during the height of \u201czero tolerance.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe administration considers this to be a top priority, so this is the result \u2014 huge numbers of prosecutions,\u201d said David Bier, the director of immigration studies and the Selz Foundation chair in immigration policy at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.<\/p>\n Tom Wong, an associate professor of political science at UC San Diego and the founding director of the university\u2019s U.S. Immigration Policy Center, said the administration\u2019s immigration policies have been successful at fulfilling their intended purposes \u2014 for now, at least. But he said immigration patterns and policies can be a \u201ccat and mouse game,\u201d and the reasons for the current decrease in immigration are more complex than just pointing to Trump\u2019s aggressive border policies.<\/p>\n Wong also said the decision for immigrants to try to come to the U.S. is influenced by a number of social factors \u2014 and the threat of criminal prosecution or conviction is a deterrent to some, but not to all.<\/p>\n \u201cMotivated individuals who are desperate to reunite with family members, or have no other means of subsistence and are trying to come here to work, will come no matter the circumstances,\u201d Wong said. \u201cCriminal prosecutions \u2026 may play a small role in deterring people, but those who are most desperate will try to enter despite the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n While the national spotlight in recent months has focused on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its arrests of undocumented immigrants already living in the U.S., most of those arrests result in civil immigration cases and deportations<\/a>. The vast majority of criminal immigration-related prosecutions in San Diego remain centered on people caught\u00a0trying to illegally cross the border.<\/p>\n The data<\/p>\n According to CBP data, Border Patrol agents and customs officers along the California-Mexico border were apprehending an average of more than 33,000 single adults per month between October 2023 and May 2024. That number peaked in April 2024 with 37,898. (The Union-Tribune in its analysis focused only on encounters with what CBP describes as single adults, since they are most likely to face criminal prosecution compared to unaccompanied minors or families.)<\/p>\n During this period under the Biden administration, many people apprehended at the border were seeking asylum<\/a> and voluntarily presented themselves to Border Patrol agents<\/a>. Those people were often processed by Border Patrol<\/a> and then allowed into the country while awaiting immigration proceedings.<\/p>\n In June of last year, in the midst of a re-election campaign struggling to address immigration issues, the Biden administration announced severe restrictions<\/a> on asylum seekers. By July, apprehensions had dropped below 20,000 per month and continued falling until Trump took office.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Apprehensions fell even further after Trump immediately issued executive orders aimed at curtailing the ability of immigrants to seek asylum. Among those measures was shutting down the CBP One application<\/a> that had allowed some asylum seekers waiting in Mexico to schedule\u00a0screening appointments. A lawsuit filed in June in San Diego federal court argued that Trump\u2019s \u201cAsylum Shutdown Policy\u201d is illegal<\/a>, and his administration must restore the ability for immigrants to seek asylum.<\/p>\n But while that lawsuit and others challenging the administration\u2019s border enforcement policies progress, the directives have had their intended consequences. CBP reported 2,628 apprehensions of single adults along the California-Mexico border in February, Trump\u2019s first full month back in office, down from 10,455 in January. That number was down to 1,452 by July, the most recent month for which there is data available.<\/p>\n In the Southern District of California, which covers the entire California-Mexico border, prosecutions for alleged immigration violations have spiked during the same time period.<\/p>\n In December, Biden\u2019s last full month in office, federal prosecutors in San Diego, then under the leadership of Biden-appointee Tara McGrath, filed 100 cases charging felony re-entry and 27 cases charging misdemeanor illegal entry. By May, under the leadership of Trump-appointee Adam Gordon, those figures had jumped to 331 cases charging felony re-entry and 155 cases charging misdemeanor illegal entry.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n At the same time,\u00a0apprehensions had decreased by 92.6% from the same month the previous year, yet prosecutors filed 353% more illegal re-entry cases.<\/p>\n Though prosecutors are initially charging anyone with a prior deportation or removal with felony re-entry, the majority of those defendants who do not have more serious criminal histories are later pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of illegal entry. Attorneys are referring to these as \u201cflip\u201d cases, and judges are sentencing most defendants to time-served custody terms. Those individuals are then quickly deported.<\/p>\n For example, a Mexican citizen was arrested by CBP officers on Aug. 18 after trying to enter the U.S. through the San Ysidro Port of Entry, according to court documents. He told officers that he was a U.S. citizen, but the officers conducted a records check and determined he was not\u00a0and had previously been deported to Mexico in 1987 and again in 2024.<\/p>\n Prosecutors initially charged him with a felony re-entry count, but about two weeks later charged him with both a felony re-entry count and a misdemeanor illegal entry count. He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor and was sentenced Tuesday to a term of time served. He was expected to be immediately deported.<\/p>\n Though there\u2019s been a recent spike in such prosecutions since Trump took office, they\u2019re nowhere near the levels seen during \u201czero tolerance.\u201d For four straight months beginning in July 2018 when that policy was first implemented, federal prosecutors in San Diego filed more than 1,000 immigration-related cases per month, according to data from the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n In August 2018, for example, San Diego federal prosecutors filed 1,101 illegal entry cases and 158 illegal re-entry cases. Compare that to last month, when prosecutors filed 84 illegal entry cases and 161 illegal re-entry cases.<\/p>\n On the other hand, the data show that prosecuting human smuggling cases has remained consistent across multiple administrations.<\/p>\n DOJ directives<\/p>\n The mandate to focus on immigration-related cases came from DOJ\u2019s top leadership immediately after Trump\u2019s inauguration.<\/p>\n On Jan. 21, Trump\u2019s first full day back in office, then-acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove sent a memo to all DOJ staff<\/a> ordering federal prosecutors to \u201ccharge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offenses\u201d against all potential defendants \u2014 including individuals suspected of illegally crossing the border. It also directed federal prosecutors to \u201cpursue charges relating to criminal immigration-related violations when such violations\u201d are referred by law enforcement.<\/p>\n Bove went on to write that if federal prosecutors declined to prosecute an immigration-related case that was referred to them, they were required to submit an \u201cUrgent Report\u201d to DOJ officials detailing the decision not to pursue the case. According to the section of the Justice Manual cited by Bove<\/a>, such reports are usually reserved for informing DOJ officials about high-priority and potentially high-profile matters, such as prosecutions of elected officials or political candidates.<\/p>\n On Feb. 5, the day after Bondi was confirmed by the Senate, she sent a follow-up memo<\/a> reinforcing the directives that Bove had laid out.<\/p>\n \u201cConsistent with the core principle of pursuing the most serious, readily provable offense, U.S. Attorney\u2019s Offices \u2026 shall pursue charges relating to criminal immigration-related violations when such violations are presented by federal, state, or local law enforcement or the Intelligence Community,\u201d Bondi wrote.<\/p>\n![\"La](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/TRUMP-EPSTEIN_89476_3f9e19.jpg\")
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks as President Donald Trump listens on June 27 at the White House. (Jacquelyn Martin\/AP)<\/p>\n