§2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016
In fiscal year 2016, 44% of the 2,423 people sentenced under §2L1.1 received a sentence below the guideline range at the government's request, and 43% were sentenced within the range. The median prison term was 13 months. Guilty pleas made up 99% of the cases.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Ali › §2L1.1: FY2016
In brief: In fiscal year 2016, 44% of the 2,423 people sentenced under §2L1.1 received a sentence below the guideline range at the government's request, and 43% were sentenced within the range. The median prison term was 13 months. Guilty pleas made up 99% of the cases.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 2,423 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
Sentences Below the Range at the Government's Request
The guideline range is the sentencing range the Guidelines Manual produces for a case. In fiscal year 2016, the Commission had this information for all 2,423 people sentenced under §2L1.1.
A sentence within the range went to 43% (1,042). A sentence below the range at the government's request went to 44% (1,062). A sentence below the range without a government request went to 12% (287), and 1% (32) were sentenced above the range.
Across all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline, 44% were sentenced within the range. Across every guideline in fiscal year 2016, the share was 49%.
How Many People, and What Sentences
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 2,423 people sentenced in the fiscal year that ran from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016. The Commission files these cases under its Immigration offense type.
Prison was the sentence for 2,116 people (87%). Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, went to 196 people (8%). One person received a life sentence.
The median prison term was 13 months. A quarter of the people sent to prison received 21 months or more, and a quarter received 8 months or less. Terms are those imposed by the court, not time served.
Almost All Cases Ended in a Plea
A total of 2,390 people (99%) pleaded guilty, and 33 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a plea was 13 months. After a trial it was 30 months, based on 33 people convicted at trial and sent to prison.
Among those who pleaded guilty, 88% had a written plea agreement and 11% did not. The trial group is small, and the comparison cannot show what a trial changed.
Mandatory Minimums, Release Terms, and Money Orders
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 31 of the 2,423 people with that information (1%).
Supervised release was ordered for 1,855 people (77%), with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 208 people (9%), and restitution for 24 (less than 1%).
Criminal History
Criminal history category I, the lowest, held 56% of the people, and category VI, the highest, held 4%. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so there is no military comparison for this measure.
Wider Federal Numbers and What They Cannot Show
The Manual titles §2L1.1 "Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien." The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so only federal numbers appear.
For all guidelines in fiscal year 2016, 67,742 people were sentenced, with a median prison term of 24 months and 97% guilty pleas. Under §2L1.1 for fiscal years 2016 to 2025, the count is 35,550 people, with a median of 12 months. The next year, 2017, had 2,765 people and a median of 13 months. The table lists each year.
Only convicted and sentenced people are counted, and the records do not give the facts of any case.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2,423 | 13 months | 99% |
| 2017 | 2,765 | 13 months | 98% |
| 2018 | 2,843 | 12 months | 99% |
| 2019 | 3,487 | 12 months | 99% |
| 2020 | 3,392 | 11.4 months | 99% |
| 2021 | 3,551 | 13 months | more than 99% |
| 2022 | 4,056 | 12 months | more than 99% |
| 2023 | 4,731 | 12 months | more than 99% |
| 2024 | 4,345 | 12 months | more than 99% |
| 2025 | 3,957 | 12 months | more than 99% |
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2L1.1 (2,423), U.S. Sentencing Commission individual data files. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
Who decides the sentence, and under what rules. Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
Mandatory minimum sentences. Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- §2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.