§2L2.2 Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status for Own Use: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025
Prison terms under §2L2.2 were short. In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 6,602 people were sentenced under it, and the median prison term was 3.9 months. 87% received prison, 11% received probation only, and 98% pleaded guilty.
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In brief: Prison terms under §2L2.2 were short. In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 6,602 people were sentenced under it, and the median prison term was 3.9 months. 87% received prison, 11% received probation only, and 98% pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 6,602 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.
Short Terms Under §2L2.2
The guideline's full title in the Manual is long: "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." Going by the title alone, it covers fraudulently acquiring documents tied to naturalization, citizenship, or legal resident status, false personation or fraudulent marriage to evade immigration law, and fraudulent use of a United States passport.
Of 6,602 people sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 5,742 (87%) received prison, and 755 (11%) received probation only. A quarter of the prison terms were 6 months or more, and a quarter were 1.7 months or less.
Guilty Pleas and the Few Trials
6,493 people (98%) pleaded guilty, and 109 were convicted after a trial. Only 39% of guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 61% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The median prison term was 3.8 months after a guilty plea and 7.4 months after a trial. The trial figure is based on 99 people sent to prison.
Where Sentences Fell Against the Range
Of 6,598 cases with the information, 76% (4,990) were within the guideline range. 6% (426) were below it at the government's request, and 14% (922) were below it without a government request. 4% (260) were above the range.
Mandatory Minimums and Supervised Release
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 220 people (3%). Supervised release was ordered for 3,498 (53%), with a median term of 24 months.
A fine was ordered for 221 people (3%) and restitution for 68 (1%). In criminal history, 83% were in the lowest category, and less than 1% were in the highest.
Year-to-Year Numbers
The yearly median stayed near 4 months across the period. The yearly figures varied little, and the sheet gives no explanation for the small differences. It was 4 months in 2016 and 2018, 4.4 months in 2017, and 3.3 months in 2022 and 2025. The earlier and later periods give 4 months for fiscal years 2016 to 2019 (3,357 people) and 3.6 months for fiscal years 2020 to 2025 (3,245 people).
The count of people sentenced was 962 in 2019 and 394 in 2024. It rose to 529 in 2025. The records do not show the reasons.
| 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% |
Reading These Records Carefully
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline. The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced, so acquittals and dismissals are not in it. The prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served. The records also do not show the facts of any case or what led to each sentence.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2L2.2 (6,602), 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)
- §2L1.1 Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien: 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.