Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the District of Nebraska, FY2016–2025
In the District of Nebraska, 790 people were sentenced for immigration offenses in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The median prison term was 4.9 months, compared with 7 months for immigration cases in all 94 federal districts. 786 of the 790 pleaded guilty, and 99% received a prison term.
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In brief: In the District of Nebraska, 790 people were sentenced for immigration offenses in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The median prison term was 4.9 months, compared with 7 months for immigration cases in all 94 federal districts. 786 of the 790 pleaded guilty, and 99% received a prison term.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 790 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 Prison Terms for Most Immigration Cases
Among the 781 people in this district who received a prison term, the median was 4.9 months. A quarter of them received 10 months or more, and a quarter received 2.1 months or less. The median across all offenses in the District of Nebraska was 57 months, so immigration cases carried much shorter terms than the district's other cases.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission sorts every case into an offense type. "Immigration" is the Commission's category, not a single statute. The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced, so acquittals and dismissals are not included. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served.
How Big Is This Offense Type in the District?
Immigration cases were 16% of the 4,887 people sentenced in the District of Nebraska over these 10 fiscal years. The fiscal year starts on October 1 and ends at the close of September.
The most common primary guideline was §2L1.2 (Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States), with 743 people. Smaller groups were sentenced under §2L2.2 (Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status for Own Use) with 20 people, §2L2.1 (Trafficking in a Document Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status, or a United States Passport) with 16, and §2L1.1 (Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien) with 11.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 78 | 4 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 94 | 4.4 months | 100% |
| 2018 | 105 | 4.3 months | more than 99% |
| 2019 | 144 | 3.7 months | more than 99% |
| 2020 | 103 | 3.6 months | 98% |
| 2021 | 42 | 5.1 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 44 | 6.1 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 47 | 6 months | 100% |
| 2024 | 38 | 8.8 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 95 | 5.8 months | 100% |
Year-by-Year Counts
The yearly table shows that the number of people sentenced was 144 in fiscal year 2019 and 38 in fiscal year 2024. The median prison term was 3.6 months in fiscal year 2020 and 8.8 months in fiscal year 2024.
Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 421 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 369 people. The records show these counts. They do not show what changed in the cases from one year to the next.
Pleas, Trials, and Mandatory Minimums
786 of the 790 people (more than 99%) pleaded guilty, and 4 were convicted after a trial. The same share of immigration cases pleaded guilty across all 94 districts.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 4.9 months. After a trial it was 9 months, but that figure rests on only 3 people, so it is a small count.
Among those who pleaded guilty, 68% had a written plea agreement and 32% were straight pleas with no agreement. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 789 people with that information recorded.
Where Sentences Fell Against the Guideline Range
56% of sentences (443 people) were within the guideline range. Another 40% (319 people) were below the range at the government's request. 2% (17 people) were below the range without a government request, and 1% (11 people) were above it.
For all immigration cases in all districts, 62% were within the range. For all offenses in the District of Nebraska, the figure was 48%. Immigration cases in this district were therefore within the range more often than the district's cases overall, and less often than immigration cases nationwide.
Probation, Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History
7 people (less than 1%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. 486 people (62%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 12 months. A fine was ordered for 5 people and restitution for 6.
29% of the people were in the lowest criminal history category, and 1% were in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so this detail has no military counterpart.
What These Records Cannot Show
The records do not show the facts of any case, why a prison term was set where it was, or how long anyone actually served. They do not include people who were charged but not convicted.
Offutt AFB, Nebraska, is in this district and appears in this site's court-martial data. Courts-martial are tried in military courts, not in this federal district court. These federal numbers are reported on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the District of Nebraska (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Nebraska") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Immigration" (790). Offense types are the Commission's OFFGUIDE categories.
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)
- Federal Sentences in the District of Nebraska, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the District of Nebraska, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the District of Nebraska, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the District of Nebraska, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Child Pornography Sentences in the District of Nebraska, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- 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.