§2L1.2 Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020
In fiscal year 2020, the median prison term under §2L1.2 was 5 months, the lowest median in the yearly table for fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The Commission counted 19,654 people, and more than 99% pleaded guilty. Of the people with the information, 66% were sentenced within the guideline range.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2L1.2 Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States › §2L1.2: FY2020
In brief: In fiscal year 2020, the median prison term under §2L1.2 was 5 months, the lowest median in the yearly table for fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The Commission counted 19,654 people, and more than 99% pleaded guilty. Of the people with the information, 66% were sentenced within the guideline range.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 19,654 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 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 5-Month Median Prison Term
Among the 19,654 people sentenced in fiscal year 2020 with §2L1.2 as the primary guideline, a prison term went to 19,036 (97%). Another 617 (3%) received probation only.
The median prison term for those sent to prison was 5 months. A quarter received 10 months or more, and a quarter received 2.2 months or less. No other year in the yearly table has a median as low as 5 months. Fiscal year 2019 had a median of 6 months, and fiscal year 2021 had 10 months.
For everyone sentenced in federal court under any guideline in fiscal year 2020, the group numbered 64,565 and the median prison term was 18 months.
Trial and Plea Numbers
A total of 19,617 people (more than 99%) pleaded guilty, and 37 were convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 41% had a written plea agreement and 59% were straight pleas.
The median prison term was 5 months after a guilty plea and 19.5 months after a trial, based on 36 people convicted at trial and sent to prison. With so few trial cases, the median should be read with care.
Position Against the Guideline Range
The Commission lists the sentence position for 19,643 people. Of those, 66% (13,017) were within the guideline range. A sentence below the range at the government's request applied to 22% (4,280), and below the range without a government request to 11% (2,102). Above the range applied to 1% (244).
In fiscal year 2019 the share within the range was 69%, and in fiscal year 2021 it was 54%. The 2020 share was lower than 2019 and higher than 2021. Across all guidelines in fiscal year 2020, 50% were within the range.
About the Guideline and the Year
The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2L1.2 "Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States". The Commission files all 19,654 cases under the Immigration offense type.
Fiscal year 2020 ran from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. The count of 19,654 was lower than the 22,077 in fiscal year 2019 and higher than the 11,565 in fiscal year 2021.
Mandatory Minimums, Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 5 of the 19,650 people with that information recorded (less than 1%).
Supervised release followed prison for 10,887 people (55%), with a median term of 12 months. A fine was ordered for 20 people (less than 1%), and restitution for 2 (less than 1%).
The Whole Period at a Glance
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, more than 99% pleaded guilty, and 65% were within the range. The 2020 median of 5 months was lower than the median for the whole period. The table gives each year.
| 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% |
What Cannot Be Read From These Figures
Only people who were convicted and sentenced are in the Commission's data. Acquittals and dismissals are not counted, and prison terms are those imposed, not time served.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports the federal numbers by themselves.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2L1.2 (19,654), 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)
- §2L1.2 Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2L1.2 Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2L1.2 Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 (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.