§2L2.2 Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status for Own Use: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021
Only 2 of the 582 people sentenced under §2L2.2 in fiscal year 2021 were convicted after a trial. The other 580 (more than 99%) pleaded guilty. The median prison term was 3.5 months, and 76% of sentences were within the guideline range.
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In brief: Only 2 of the 582 people sentenced under §2L2.2 in fiscal year 2021 were convicted after a trial. The other 580 (more than 99%) pleaded guilty. The median prison term was 3.5 months, and 76% of sentences were within the guideline range.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 582 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021. 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.
Trials and Guilty Pleas: 2 and 580
In fiscal year 2021, 580 of the 582 people sentenced under §2L2.2 pleaded guilty. 2 were convicted after a trial. Across all federal cases that year, 98% of people pleaded guilty.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 3.5 months. After a trial it was 32.5 months, based on 2 people. A group of 2 is too small to say anything about trial sentences in general. Of the guilty pleas, 69% were straight pleas with no agreement, and 31% had a written plea agreement.
Probation, Prison, and the Length of Terms
491 of the 582 people (84%) received a prison term. 85 (15%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
The median prison term was 3.5 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 5.2 months or more, and a quarter received 2 months or less. Terms are those imposed by the court. For the 57,287 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 under all guidelines, the median prison term was 29 months.
Few Government Requests for Lower Sentences
All 582 people had guideline range information recorded. 443 (76%) were sentenced within the range. 118 (20%) were sentenced below it without a request from the government. Only 16 (3%) were sentenced below it at the government's request, and 5 (less than 1%) were sentenced above it.
In federal court as a whole in fiscal year 2021, 43% of sentences were within the range. Sentences inside the range were more common under this guideline. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 15 of the 582 people (3%).
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
246 people (42%) had supervised release ordered after prison, with a median term of 24 months. 14 people (2%) were fined. Restitution, which compensates victims, was ordered for 4 (less than 1%).
About the Guideline and the Criminal History Field
The title of §2L2.2 in the Guidelines Manual is "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 classes these cases as Immigration. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021.
86% of the people were in criminal history category I, the lowest, and less than 1% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no such field. The crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so nothing here is compared with military cases.
Neighboring Years and the Full Period
Fiscal year 2020 had 642 people under this guideline, a median prison term of 3.4 months, and 74% within the range. Fiscal year 2022 had 661 people, a median of 3.3 months, and 83% within the range.
For fiscal years 2016 to 2025 combined, the Commission recorded 6,602 people. 87% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 3.9 months, 98% pleaded guilty, and 76% were within the range. The table shows each year. The 582 people in 2021 are fewer than in each of the years 2016 to 2020, and the records cannot show why.
| 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% |
Limits of the Records
Only people convicted and sentenced are included. Acquittals and dismissals are not counted, and individual case facts are not part of the data.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2L2.2 (582), 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)
- §2L2.2 Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status for Own Use: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2L2.2 Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status for Own Use: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 (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 2022 (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.