§2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017
In fiscal year 2017, federal courts sentenced 2,765 people in cases whose primary guideline was §2L1.1. Of the 2,454 people (89%) who went to prison, the median term was 13 months. In criminal history, 58% of the people were in the lowest category, and 89% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agre
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Ali › §2L1.1: FY2017
In brief: In fiscal year 2017, federal courts sentenced 2,765 people in cases whose primary guideline was §2L1.1. Of the 2,454 people (89%) who went to prison, the median term was 13 months. In criminal history, 58% of the people were in the lowest category, and 89% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 2,765 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017. 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.
A Group With Little Prior Record
The Commission assigns each sentenced person a criminal history category, from category I at the lowest to category VI at the highest. In fiscal year 2017, category I, the lowest, held 58% of the people sentenced under §2L1.1. Category VI, the highest, held 3%.
Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so this measure has no military comparison.
Plea Agreements and Trials
Of the 2,765 people, 2,718 (98%) pleaded guilty and 47 were convicted after a trial. Written plea agreements were in place for 89% of the guilty pleas, and 11% were straight pleas.
After a guilty plea, the median prison term was 12 months. After a trial it was 30 months, based on 45 people convicted at trial and sent to prison. Both groups differ in ways the data does not record, so the gap is not a measure of what a trial costs.
Prison Terms and Probation
A prison term was imposed on 2,454 people (89%). Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, was imposed on 211 (8%).
The median prison term among those sent to prison was 13 months. A quarter received 21 months or more, and a quarter received 8 months or less. Terms are as imposed, not as served.
The Guideline Range in Fiscal Year 2017
All 2,765 people had range information. Sentences within the range were 44% (1,229), and sentences below the range at the government's request were 41% (1,139). A sentence below the range without a government request occurred for 13% (347), and 2% (50) were above the range.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 44 people (2%).
Release Terms and Financial Orders
Supervised release followed prison for 2,107 people (76%), and the median term was 36 months. Fines were ordered for 200 (7%). Restitution was ordered for 33 (1%).
Place in the Wider Data
The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017, and the Commission lists these cases under its Immigration offense type. Its Manual titles the guideline "Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien." The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so the post reports federal numbers on their own.
In fiscal year 2016, the guideline had 2,423 people and sentences within the range for 43%. In fiscal year 2018, it had 2,843 people and 39%. For every guideline in fiscal year 2017, 66,873 people were sentenced, with a median of 24 months and 49% within the range. Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, the guideline covers 35,550 people with a median of 12 months. The table shows all years.
The data does not describe the conduct in any case or why a sentence was chosen.
| 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 2017 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2L1.1 (2,765), 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 2016 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018 (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.