§2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019
Of the 3,487 people sentenced under §2L1.1 in fiscal year 2019, 99% pleaded guilty, and 92% of those pleas came with a written plea agreement. The median prison term was 12 months. The count was higher than the 2,843 people in fiscal year 2018.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Ali › §2L1.1: FY2019
In brief: Of the 3,487 people sentenced under §2L1.1 in fiscal year 2019, 99% pleaded guilty, and 92% of those pleas came with a written plea agreement. The median prison term was 12 months. The count was higher than the 2,843 people in fiscal year 2018.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 3,487 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019. 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.
Pleas Were Nearly Universal
A guilty plea was entered by 3,449 of the 3,487 people. The other 38 were convicted after a trial.
Within the guilty pleas, 92% involved a written plea agreement, and 8% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The median prison term was 12 months after a plea and 20 months after a trial. The trial median rests on 36 people who were convicted at trial and sent to prison, so it describes a small group.
Size of the Year and Prison Terms
The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019. The Commission lists these cases under its Immigration offense type.
Prison terms were imposed on 3,046 people (87%), and 293 people (8%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Among those sent to prison, a quarter received 21 months or more, and a quarter received 6.4 months or less. The median of 12 months is the term imposed, not the time served.
In all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline, 88% of people were sent to prison. Across every guideline in fiscal year 2019, the share of sentences within the range was 51%, which is higher than the 40% under §2L1.1 that year.
How the Sentences Related to the Range
For all 3,487 people the range was recorded. In 40% of cases (1,412), the sentence was within the range. The government requested a below-range sentence in 44% (1,518). Without such a request, 15% (514) were below the range, and 1% (43) were above it.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 49 people, which is 1%.
After Prison, and Criminal History
Supervised release was ordered for 2,655 people (76%) with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 191 (5%). Restitution was ordered for 12 (less than 1%).
Criminal history category I, the lowest, held 58% of the people, and category VI, the highest, held 4%. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Neighboring Years and the Whole Federal System
The Manual title is "Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien." Fiscal year 2018 had 2,843 people under this guideline and 39% within the range. Fiscal year 2020 had 3,392 people, a median of 11.4 months, and 41% within the range.
For all guidelines in fiscal year 2019, the Commission counted 76,538 people. Their median prison term was 21 months, and 51% were sentenced within the range.
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, §2L1.1 covers 35,550 people, with a median of 12 months. The table lists each year.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart. The data does not say what happened in any case or why a court picked a given sentence.
| 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 2019 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2L1.1 (3,487), 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 2018 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 (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.