A recent report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reveals a significant shift in federal arrest numbers for noncitizens over a 20-year span. In 2018, non-U.S. citizens represented 64 percent of federal arrests, a notable rise from 1998, when they accounted for just 37 percent and U.S. citizens comprised 63 percent.
Despite noncitizens making up approximately seven percent of the U.S. population, according to 2017 Census Bureau data, the BJS report highlights that they were responsible for 15 percent of all federal arrests and an equal percentage of non-immigration crime prosecutions in U.S. district courts in 2018.
A notable increase was seen in the five judicial districts along the U.S.-Mexico border. Federal arrests in these regions nearly doubled from 33 percent in 1998 to 65 percent in 2018. The report indicates that almost 95 percent of this increase pertains to immigration offenses.
The data further reveals that Mexican nationals constituted about 40 percent of these noncitizen arrests, with Central Americans making up another 20 percent. Comparatively, U.S. citizens accounted for 36 percent of all federal offense arrests in 2018.
From 1998 to 2018, the percentage of federal arrests involving Mexican citizens increased from 28 percent to 40 percent, and arrests involving Central Americans surged from 1 percent to 20 percent. Meanwhile, U.S. citizen federal arrests saw a decrease from 63 percent to 36 percent.
The report also identifies the most common offenses leading to prosecutions of non-U.S. citizens in 2018. These include illegal reentry (72 percent), drug-related offenses (13 percent), fraud (4.5 percent), alien smuggling (4 percent), and visa misuse (2 percent). In contrast, U.S. citizens were most frequently prosecuted for drug offenses (38 percent), weapons charges (21 percent), fraud (12 percent), public order crimes (12 percent), and alien smuggling (6 percent).
