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# §2L2.2 Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status for Own Use: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l2-2-fraudulently-acquiring-documents-relating-to-naturalization-citizenship-fy2017/
- Published: 2026-11-04T10:23:53.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T10:23:53.000Z
- Description: Of the 691 people sentenced under §2L2.2 in fiscal year 2017, 679 (98%) pleaded guilty. Among the guilty pleas, 51% were straight pleas with no written agreement and 48% had one. The median prison term was 4.4 months.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2L2.2 Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturali](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l2-2-fraudulently-acquiring-documents-relating-to-naturalization-citizenship/) › §2L2.2: FY2017

**In brief:** Of the 691 people sentenced under §2L2.2 in fiscal year 2017, 679 (98%) pleaded guilty. Among the guilty pleas, 51% were straight pleas with no written agreement and 48% had one. The median prison term was 4.4 months.

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 691 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017\. 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/).

## Guilty Pleas With and Without Written Agreements

A plea agreement is a written deal between the defendant and the government. In fiscal year 2017, 48% of the guilty pleas under this guideline had a written plea agreement, and 51% were straight pleas, meaning the person pleaded guilty with no agreement.

679 of the 691 people (98%) pleaded guilty, and 12 were convicted after a trial. In all federal cases that year, 97% pleaded guilty. The median prison term was 4.4 months after a guilty plea and 10.5 months after a trial. Both figures are for the people sent to prison, and the trial figure covers 12 people.

## Prison and Probation

600 people (87%) received a prison term, and 76 (11%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.

Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 4.4 months. A quarter received 8 months or more, and a quarter received 1.8 months or less. The median for all 66,873 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017 was 24 months. That total includes all offense types and is background only. Prison terms in the data are terms imposed, not time served.

## How Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range

All 691 people had range information. 74% (514) were sentenced within the guideline range. 15% (102) were below it without a government request, and 8% (57) were below it at the government's request. 3% (18) were above it.

Across all federal cases that year, 49% of sentences were within the range. Within-range sentences were more common under this guideline. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 33 of the 691 people (5%).

## Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution

412 people (60%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, and the median term was 24 months. A fine was ordered for 36 people (5%). Restitution was ordered for 8 (1%).

## The Guideline and Its Offense Type

The Guidelines Manual titles §2L2.2 "Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status for Own Use; False Personation or Fraudulent Marriage by Alien to Evade Immigration Law; Fraudulently Acquiring or Improperly Using a United States Passport." The U.S. Sentencing Commission's offense type for these cases is Immigration. Fiscal year 2017 ran from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017.

76% of the people were in the lowest criminal history category I, and 2% were in the highest category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field. The crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports federal numbers on their own.

## Years Before and After

In fiscal year 2016, 769 people were sentenced under §2L2.2, with a median prison term of 4 months and 73% within the range. In fiscal year 2018, there were 935 people, a median of 4 months, and 71% within the range.

Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 6,602 people were sentenced under this guideline. 87% went to prison, the median prison term was 3.9 months, 98% pleaded guilty, and 76% were within the range. The table lists every year. Counts and medians moved from year to year, and the records cannot show what caused the changes.

| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
| ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
| 2016        | 769              | 4 months      | 98%            |
| 2017        | 691              | 4.4 months    | 98%            |
| 2018        | 935              | 4 months      | 98%            |
| 2019        | 962              | 3.5 months    | 99%            |
| 2020        | 642              | 3.4 months    | 98%            |
| 2021        | 582              | 3.5 months    | more than 99%  |
| 2022        | 661              | 3.3 months    | 98%            |
| 2023        | 437              | 4.2 months    | 97%            |
| 2024        | 394              | 4.2 months    | 98%            |
| 2025        | 529              | 3.3 months    | 99%            |

## What the Data Leaves Out

Only people who were convicted and sentenced are counted. Acquittals and dismissals do not appear, and the records give no details about any individual case.

### How We Counted

Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2L2.2 (691), 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)
- [§2L2.2 Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status for Own Use: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l2-2-fraudulently-acquiring-documents-relating-to-naturalization-citizenship/) (overview)
- [§2L2.2 Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status for Own Use: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l2-2-fraudulently-acquiring-documents-relating-to-naturalization-citizenship-fy2016/) (previous or next fiscal year)
- [§2L2.2 Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status for Own Use: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2l2-2-fraudulently-acquiring-documents-relating-to-naturalization-citizenship-fy2018/) (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.