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# §2L1.2 Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l1-2-unlawfully-entering-or-remaining-in-the-united-fy2018/
- Published: 2026-11-04T09:51:56.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T09:51:56.000Z
- Description: Among the 18,241 people sentenced under §2L1.2 in fiscal year 2018, 62% of the guilty pleas were straight pleas with no written plea agreement. The median prison term was 6 months, and 69% of sentences were within the guideline range. Only 42 people were convicted after a trial.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2L1.2 Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l1-2-unlawfully-entering-or-remaining-in-the-united/) › §2L1.2: FY2018

**In brief:** Among the 18,241 people sentenced under §2L1.2 in fiscal year 2018, 62% of the guilty pleas were straight pleas with no written plea agreement. The median prison term was 6 months, and 69% of sentences were within the guideline range. Only 42 people were convicted after a trial.

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 18,241 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018\. 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/).

## Straight Pleas Were More Common Than Plea Agreements

In fiscal year 2018, 18,199 of 18,241 people (more than 99%) pleaded guilty. Among those guilty pleas, 38% had a written plea agreement and 62% were straight pleas with no agreement.

A straight plea means the person pleaded guilty without a written agreement with the government. The Commission records which kind each plea was, but it does not record what each side offered or asked for.

A total of 42 people were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 6 months after a guilty plea and 27 months after a trial, based on 42 people convicted at trial and sent to prison.

## Prison Terms in Fiscal Year 2018

The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2L1.2 "Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States". The Commission counted 18,241 people with this primary guideline in fiscal year 2018, and files all of them under the Immigration offense type.

A prison term went to 17,521 people (96%), and 719 (4%) received probation only. The median prison term was 6 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 15 months or more, and a quarter received 2.5 months or less.

In fiscal year 2017 the median was 9 months, which is higher than in fiscal year 2018\. In fiscal year 2019 the median was 6 months, the same as in 2018.

## Range Position

For 18,240 people with the information, 69% (12,641) were sentenced within the guideline range. A sentence below the range at the government's request applied to 19% (3,485), and below the range without a government request to 9% (1,701). A sentence above the range applied to 2% (413).

The same share, 69%, was within the range in fiscal year 2019, and 65% in fiscal year 2017\. For all guidelines combined in fiscal year 2018, the share was 51%.

## Mandatory Minimums and Supervised Release

A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 7 of the 18,234 people with that information recorded (less than 1%).

Supervised release after prison was ordered for 9,920 people (54%), with a median term of 24 months. A fine was ordered for 26 people (less than 1%), and restitution for 2 (less than 1%).

## Compared With Other Years and All Guidelines

Fiscal year 2017 had 15,895 people under this guideline and fiscal year 2019 had 22,077\. The count in 2018 was higher than the first and lower than the second.

Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, §2L1.2 covered 158,846 people. Of those, 97% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 7 months, and 65% were within the range. Everyone sentenced under any guideline in fiscal year 2018 numbered 69,425, with a median prison term of 24 months and 97% guilty pleas. The table shows each year for §2L1.2.

| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
| ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
| 2016        | 15,813           | 9 months      | more than 99%  |
| 2017        | 15,895           | 9 months      | more than 99%  |
| 2018        | 18,241           | 6 months      | more than 99%  |
| 2019        | 22,077           | 6 months      | more than 99%  |
| 2020        | 19,654           | 5 months      | more than 99%  |
| 2021        | 11,565           | 10 months     | more than 99%  |
| 2022        | 11,978           | 9 months      | more than 99%  |
| 2023        | 12,869           | 8 months      | more than 99%  |
| 2024        | 12,550           | 8 months      | more than 99%  |
| 2025        | 18,204           | 6 months      | more than 99%  |

## Limits of the Records

The data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it, and the prison terms are those imposed, not time served. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018.

The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.

### How We Counted

Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2L1.2 (18,241), 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)
- [§2L1.2 Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l1-2-unlawfully-entering-or-remaining-in-the-united/) (overview)
- [§2L1.2 Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l1-2-unlawfully-entering-or-remaining-in-the-united-fy2017/) (previous or next fiscal year)
- [§2L1.2 Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l1-2-unlawfully-entering-or-remaining-in-the-united-fy2019/) (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.