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# Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Northern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-immigration-sentences-northern-district-of-mississippi/
- Published: 2026-11-04T11:14:55.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T11:14:55.000Z
- Description: 46 people were sentenced for immigration offenses in the Northern District of Mississippi in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. All 46 pleaded guilty. The records list all 46 as receiving a prison term, and the median term was 0 months, compared with 7 months for all 94 districts.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [Federal Sentences in the Northern District of Mississippi, F](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-northern-district-of-mississippi/) › Immigration Offense: Northern District of Mississippi

**In brief:** 46 people were sentenced for immigration offenses in the Northern District of Mississippi in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. All 46 pleaded guilty. The records list all 46 as receiving a prison term, and the median term was 0 months, compared with 7 months for all 94 districts.

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 46 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](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/).

## A Median Prison Term of 0 Months

All 46 people (100%) are listed as receiving a prison term, and none received probation only. The median prison term was 0 months. A quarter received 8.3 months or more, and a quarter received 0 months or less.

A median of 0 months means the middle sentence in the group was 0 months. The records show the terms imposed. They do not show time served or why a given term was set.

For "Immigration" in all 94 districts, the median prison term was 7 months, and 95% of people were sent to prison. For all offenses in this district, the median was 36 months.

## Pleas

All 46 people pleaded guilty, and none was convicted after a trial. In all districts, more than 99% of people in this offense type pleaded guilty. In all offenses in this district, 98% did.

Every guilty plea had a written plea agreement. With no trials, the records cannot compare plea and trial sentences.

## What Guidelines These Cases Used

The U.S. Sentencing Commission assigns an offense type from the main guideline used at sentencing. The primary guideline was §2L1.2 (Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States) for 16 people and §2L2.2 for 2 people.

These cases were 3% of the 1,573 people sentenced in the district in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. The district sentenced 29 people in this offense type in fiscal years 2016 to 2019 and 17 people in fiscal years 2020 to 2025.

## Guideline Range, Mandatory Minimums, and Supervised Release

The guideline-range position is recorded for only 19 of the 46 people. Of those 19, 15 (79%) were sentenced within the range, 3 (16%) below the range without a government request, and 1 (5%) below the range at the government's request. None was above the range. For all districts, 62% of sentences in this offense type were within the range.

A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 45 people with that information recorded (0%).

Supervised release after prison was ordered for 4 people (9%), with a median term of 12 months. No fine and no restitution was ordered.

## Criminal History

In criminal history, 22% were in the lowest category, Category I, and 0% were in the highest, Category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.

## Yearly Counts Are Small

Yearly counts run from 1 to 11 people, and no year is listed for fiscal year 2024\. A fiscal year begins on October 1 and ends the next September.

The yearly median prison term is 0 months in fiscal years 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2021, and between 6 months and 16.5 months in the other years shown. With counts this small, the table does not show a trend.

| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
| ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
| 2016        | 7                | 0 months      | 7 of 7         |
| 2017        | 9                | 11.5 months   | 9 of 9         |
| 2018        | 11               | 0 months      | 100%           |
| 2019        | 2                | 16.5 months   | 2 of 2         |
| 2020        | 8                | 0 months      | 8 of 8         |
| 2021        | 2                | 0 months      | 2 of 2         |
| 2022        | 1                | 9.1 months    | 1 of 1         |
| 2023        | 3                | 6 months      | 3 of 3         |
| 2025        | 3                | 8.4 months    | 3 of 3         |

## Limits of the Data

Columbus AFB, Mississippi, is in this district and appears in this site's court-martial data. Courts-martial are tried in military courts and not in this federal court.

The Commission's data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it.

### How We Counted

Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Northern District of Mississippi (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Mississippi North") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Immigration" (46). 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.

## 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)
- [Federal Sentences in the Northern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-northern-district-of-mississippi/) (overview)
- [Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Northern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-drug-trafficking-sentences-northern-district-of-mississippi/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Firearms Sentences in the Northern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-firearms-sentences-northern-district-of-mississippi/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Northern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-fraud-theft-embezzlement-sentences-northern-district-of-mississippi/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Obscenity and Other Sex Offense Sentences in the Northern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-obscenity-other-sex-offenses-sentences-northern-district-of-mississippi/) (same district, other offense type)
- [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.