§2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022
In fiscal year 2022, the most common position against the guideline range for §2L1.1 cases was below the range at the government's request: 49% of 4,052 people with the information. Only 38% were sentenced within the range. The median prison term was 12 months.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Ali › §2L1.1: FY2022
In brief: In fiscal year 2022, the most common position against the guideline range for §2L1.1 cases was below the range at the government's request: 49% of 4,052 people with the information. Only 38% were sentenced within the range. The median prison term was 12 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 4,056 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2022. 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.
Government-Requested Departures From the Range
Of the 4,052 people with range information, 1,975 (49%) received a sentence below the guideline range at the government's request. A sentence within the range went to 1,559 (38%).
Below the range without any government request was recorded for 465 people (11%), and 53 (1%) were sentenced above the range.
The following year, 2023, had 40% within the range, and the year before, 2021, had 43%. Every guideline together had 42% within the range in fiscal year 2022.
The Fiscal Year in Numbers
The Commission counted 4,056 people sentenced between October 1, 2021 and September 30, 2022. Of them, 3,527 (87%) were sentenced to prison. Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, went to 375 (9%).
The median prison term was 12 months. A quarter of those in prison received 21 months or more, and a quarter received 6.3 months or less. These are terms as imposed and not time served.
A mandatory minimum applied to 73 people (2%).
Plea and Trial Results
Guilty pleas totaled 4,017, which is more than 99%, and 39 people were convicted at trial. The median prison term was 12 months after a plea. After a trial it was 29 months, from a group of 36 people convicted at trial and sent to prison.
Among guilty pleas, 82% had a written plea agreement, and 18% did not. The trial group is small, so its median is a limited basis for comparison.
Fines and Supervised Release
A fine was ordered for 481 people (12%). Restitution was ordered for 24 (less than 1%). Supervised release was ordered for 3,237 people (80%), with a median term of 36 months.
Criminal History
Criminal history category I, the lowest, held 61% of the people, and category VI, the highest, held 3%. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Longer-Term and Federal-Wide Context
The Sentencing Guidelines Manual title is "Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien." The Commission places the cases in its Immigration offense type. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so only federal numbers are given here.
The 2021 count under §2L1.1 was 3,551 people with a median of 13 months, and the 2023 count was 4,731 people with a median of 12 months. From fiscal years 2016 to 2025, the guideline covers 35,550 people, 88% were sent to prison, and 44% were within the range.
Across all guidelines in fiscal year 2022, 64,142 people were sentenced, with a median prison term of 30 months. The table lists each year for §2L1.1.
The records show who was sentenced and how. They do not show the facts of cases or the reasons for sentences.
| 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 2022 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2L1.1 (4,056), 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 2021 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023 (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.