> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # §2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l1-1-smuggling-transporting-or-harboring-an-unlawful-alien-fy2020/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:06:33.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:06:33.000Z - Description: In fiscal year 2020, 84% of the 3,392 people sentenced under §2L1.1 received a prison term, and 10% received probation only. The median prison term was 11.4 months. Sentences were within the guideline range for 41%, and 41% were below it at the government's request. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Ali](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l1-1-smuggling-transporting-or-harboring-an-unlawful-alien/) › §2L1.1: FY2020 **In brief:** In fiscal year 2020, 84% of the 3,392 people sentenced under §2L1.1 received a prison term, and 10% received probation only. The median prison term was 11.4 months. Sentences were within the guideline range for 41%, and 41% were below it at the government's request. Updated November 4, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025 This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 3,392 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020\. 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/). ## Prison and Probation in Fiscal Year 2020 The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 3,392 people sentenced in the year that ran from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020\. Prison terms were imposed on 2,851 of them (84%). Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, went to 353 people (10%). Among those sent to prison, the median term was 11.4 months. A quarter received 18 months or more, and a quarter received 6 months or less. These are the terms imposed by the court, not the time served. The year before, 2019, had a median of 12 months. The year after, 2021, had a median of 13 months. ## Within the Range or Below It All 3,391 people with range information are included. Sentences within the guideline range went to 41% (1,405). Sentences below the range at the government's request also went to 41% (1,377). Below the range without a government request: 17% (569). Above the range: 1% (40). A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 56 of the 3,391 people with that information (2%). Across every guideline in fiscal year 2020, 50% of sentences were within the range. ## Guilty Pleas and the Few Trials A total of 3,352 people (99%) pleaded guilty, and 40 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 11 months after a plea and 22.5 months after a trial. The trial figure is based on 36 people who were convicted at trial and sent to prison. Written plea agreements covered 91% of the guilty pleas. The other 9% were straight pleas. A comparison of medians between plea and trial cannot show what a trial changed. ## Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History Supervised release was ordered for 2,554 people (75%), with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 259 people (8%), and restitution for 14 (less than 1%). In criminal history, 61% of the people were in category I, the lowest. Only 4% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field. ## Wider Federal Numbers and Limits of the Data Under the title "Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien," §2L1.1 appears in the Commission's Immigration offense type. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own. For fiscal years 2016 to 2025, the guideline covers 35,550 people. In that period, 88% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 12 months, and 44% were sentenced within the range. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2020, the Commission counted 64,565 people, with a median prison term of 18 months and 98% guilty pleas. The table shows each year for §2L1.1. Only people who were convicted and sentenced are in the data. It does not give the facts of any case or the reasons for a 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 2020 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2L1.1 (3,392), 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article) - [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts) - [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method) - [§2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l1-1-smuggling-transporting-or-harboring-an-unlawful-alien/) (overview) - [§2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l1-1-smuggling-transporting-or-harboring-an-unlawful-alien-fy2019/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [§2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l1-1-smuggling-transporting-or-harboring-an-unlawful-alien-fy2021/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-sentences-outside-guideline-range/) - [Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-mandatory-minimum-sentences/) - [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source) - [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.