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US Justice Department Announces Record Number of Immigration-Linked
Prosecutions

VOA News

   The U.S. Justice Department said Friday it prosecuted a record number
   of immigration-related criminal cases over the last year.

   Newly released figures show more than 25,000 people were charged with
   illegal re-entry into the U.S. in fiscal year 2019, an 8.5 percent
   increase over the same period the previous year. Nearly 90,000
   defendants were charged with illegal entry in 2019, a more than 18
   percent jump over the year before. And nearly 4,300 were charged with
   migrant smuggling in 2019, a 15.4 percent increase from the prior
   fiscal year.

   Despite the increases, the numbers, all record highs, represent a small
   fragment of the nearly 1 million unauthorized border crossings in
   fiscal year 2019, which started in October 2018.

   The previous highs for illegal entry and re-entry were set during the
   Obama administration, while the last record for smuggling cases was
   reached during the administration of George W. Bush.

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