§2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025
The median prison term under §2L1.1 was 12 months for the 35,550 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 88% received prison, 99% pleaded guilty, and a mandatory minimum applied to 2%.
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In brief: The median prison term under §2L1.1 was 12 months for the 35,550 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 88% received prison, 99% pleaded guilty, and a mandatory minimum applied to 2%.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 35,550 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 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 12-Month Median in Every Period
Guideline §2L1.1 is titled "Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien." Its median prison term was 12 months in the full period and in both halves of it. Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 11,518 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 24,032.
The yearly count was 2,423 in 2016 and 4,731 in 2023. It was 3,957 in 2025. The yearly median was 13 months in 2016, 2017, and 2021, 11.4 months in 2020, and 12 months in most other years. The records do not show why the counts changed.
| 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% |
Who Went to Prison and for How Long
Of 35,550 people sentenced, 31,229 (88%) received a prison term. 3,116 (9%) received probation only. Probation only means no prison or other confinement was ordered. A quarter of those sent to prison received 21 months or more, and a quarter received 6 months or less. 2 people received a life sentence.
Plea Agreements and Trials
35,189 people (99%) pleaded guilty, and 361 were convicted after a trial. 84% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 16% were straight pleas.
After a guilty plea, the median prison term was 12 months. After a trial, it was 27 months, based on 346 people convicted at trial and sent to prison. Only 361 people were convicted after a trial, so the trial figure rests on a small group, and it should be read with that in mind. The plea figure covers nearly everyone in the data.
Within the Range or Below It?
Of 35,543 cases with the information, 44% (15,571) were within the guideline range. 42% (14,876) were below the range at the government's request. 12% (4,311) were below it without a government request, and 2% (785) were above the range.
Sentences below the range at the government's request were about as common as sentences within the range in this group. Sentences above the range were rare. The records do not say what the government's request was based on.
Mandatory Minimums, Supervised Release, and Fines
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 584 people (2%). Supervised release was ordered for 27,950 (79%), and the median term was 36 months.
A fine was ordered for 3,927 people (11%). Restitution was ordered for 214 (less than 1%). Criminal history was mostly at the low end: 63% were in the lowest category, and 3% were in the highest.
What This Post Leaves Out
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so that part of the federal data has no military match. The federal data covers only convicted and sentenced people and reports terms imposed, not time served. It cannot show the facts behind any single sentence.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2L1.1 (35,550), from the U.S. Sentencing Commission's 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)
- §2L1.2 Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2L2.2 Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status for Own Use: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2L2.1 Trafficking in a Document Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status, or a United States Passport: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- 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.