Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Southern District of Alabama, FY2016–2025
Of the 219 people sentenced for immigration offenses in the Southern District of Alabama in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 210 (96%) received a prison term. The median was 3.3 months, compared with 7 months across all 94 federal districts. All 219 pleaded guilty.
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In brief: Of the 219 people sentenced for immigration offenses in the Southern District of Alabama in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 210 (96%) received a prison term. The median was 3.3 months, compared with 7 months across all 94 federal districts. All 219 pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 219 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
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 219 people in this district whose offense type was Immigration. Of these, 210 (96%) received a prison term, and 9 (4%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 3.3 months. A quarter received 6.2 months or more, and a quarter received 1.6 months or less.
Across all districts, 217,838 people were sentenced for immigration offenses, 95% were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 7 months. The median here was lower. For all offenses in this district, the median was 41 months.
Primary Guidelines
The offense type is the Commission's category, assigned from the primary guideline. §2L1.2 (Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States) was the primary guideline for 192 people. §2L1.1 (Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien) applied to 14, §2L2.2 to 9, and §2L2.1 to 2.
Immigration cases were 7% of the 2,994 people sentenced in this district in the period. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 2 of the 218 people with that information recorded (less than 1%).
Pleas Without Agreements
Every one of the 219 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none went to trial. Written plea agreements covered 76% of the pleas, and 24% were straight pleas.
In all districts, more than 99% pleaded guilty for this offense type. For all offenses in this district, the share was 97%.
Position Against the Guideline Range
All 219 people had guideline information. Of these, 177 (81%) were sentenced within the range. Another 26 (12%) were below it at the government's request, and 11 (5%) were below it without a government request. 5 people (2%) were above the range.
In all districts, 62% of immigration sentences were within the range. The share here was higher. For all offenses in this district, 56% were within the range, so the share for immigration was also higher than that.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 208 people (95%), with a median term of 12 months. A fine was ordered for 4 (2%), and restitution for 1 (less than 1%).
By criminal history, 52% fell in category I, the lowest, and less than 1% in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Counts and Medians by Fiscal Year
Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 total 107 people, against 112 for fiscal years 2020 to 2025. The count was 56 in fiscal year 2019 and 41 in fiscal year 2025, and as low as 5 in fiscal year 2021.
Medians in the table range from 2.3 months in 2025 to 15 months in 2023. The counts change a lot from year to year, and the records cannot show why. The fiscal year begins in October.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 12 | 5 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 14 | 5.3 months | 100% |
| 2018 | 25 | 3 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 56 | 3 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 32 | 5.5 months | 100% |
| 2021 | 5 | 5.2 months | 5 of 5 |
| 2022 | 14 | 7 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 9 | 15 months | 9 of 9 |
| 2024 | 11 | 3.8 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 41 | 2.3 months | 100% |
Limits of the Records
The Commission data covers convicted, sentenced people only. It leaves out acquittals and dismissals, shows imposed terms rather than time served, and says nothing about any later proceedings.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Southern District of Alabama (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Alabama South") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Immigration" (219). 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 Southern District of Alabama, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Southern District of Alabama, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Southern District of Alabama, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Southern District of Alabama, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Robbery Sentences in the Southern District of Alabama, 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.