> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Southern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-immigration-sentences-southern-district-of-mississippi/ - Published: 2026-11-04T11:04:01.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T11:04:01.000Z - Description: 449 people were sentenced for immigration offenses in the Southern District of Mississippi in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The median prison term was 6 months, compared with 7 months for all 94 districts. 88% were sentenced within the guideline range, and 448 pleaded guilty. - 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 Southern District of Mississippi, F](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-southern-district-of-mississippi/) › Immigration Offense: Southern District of Mississippi **In brief:** 449 people were sentenced for immigration offenses in the Southern District of Mississippi in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. The median prison term was 6 months, compared with 7 months for all 94 districts. 88% were sentenced within the guideline range, and 448 pleaded guilty. 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 449 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 Short Median Prison Term 443 of the 449 people (99%) received a prison term, and 5 (1%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The median prison term was 6 months. A quarter received 13 months or more, and a quarter received 3.1 months or less. For all districts the median was 7 months, and 95% were sent to prison. The median for every offense type in this district was 48 months. ## Sentences Within the Guideline Range 88% of the 446 people with this information (391) were sentenced within the guideline range. In all districts the figure was 62%, and for every offense type in this district it was 69%. 7% (33) were above the range. 3% (13) were below it at the government's request, and 2% (9) were below it without a government request. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 444 people with that information recorded. ## The Guidelines Used "Immigration" is the U.S. Sentencing Commission's offense type. The most common primary guideline was §2L1.2 (Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States), with 261 people. Next was §2L1.1 (Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien), with 64. Document-related guidelines followed. §2L2.2 applied to 30 people, and §2L2.1 applied to 5\. The full titles are in the Commission's guideline manual. Immigration cases were 13% of the 3,361 people sentenced in the district. ## Guilty Pleas 448 of the 449 people (more than 99%) pleaded guilty. 1 person was convicted after a trial, and that person's prison term was 54 months. One case does not allow a comparison with the plea median of 6 months. 92% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 8% were straight pleas with no agreement. ## Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History 392 people (87%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 12 months. A fine was ordered for 32 (7%). Restitution was ordered for 0. 71% were in criminal history category I, the lowest. Less than 1% were in category VI, the highest. ## Fiscal Year Counts Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 have 176 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 have 273\. The fiscal year runs from October 1 to the end of September. Counts range from 5 people in 2016 to 92 in 2019\. The yearly median was 24 months in 2016 and 3.5 months in 2020\. Counts this uneven make the yearly medians hard to compare. | Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty | | ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- | | 2016 | 5 | 24 months | 5 of 5 | | 2017 | 34 | 6 months | 100% | | 2018 | 45 | 6 months | 100% | | 2019 | 92 | 4.5 months | 100% | | 2020 | 63 | 3.5 months | 100% | | 2021 | 21 | 6 months | 100% | | 2022 | 30 | 12 months | 100% | | 2023 | 53 | 9.3 months | 98% | | 2024 | 41 | 12 months | 100% | | 2025 | 65 | 6 months | 100% | ## What These Records Do Not Cover Only people who were convicted and sentenced are in the data. Acquittals and dismissals are not, and prison terms are imposed terms, not time served. Keesler AFB, Mississippi, appears in this site's court-martial data and is in this district. Courts-martial are tried in military courts, not in this federal district court. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Southern District of Mississippi (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Mississippi South") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Immigration" (449). 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 Southern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-southern-district-of-mississippi/) (overview) - [Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Southern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-drug-trafficking-sentences-southern-district-of-mississippi/) (same district, other offense type) - [Federal Firearms Sentences in the Southern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-firearms-sentences-southern-district-of-mississippi/) (same district, other offense type) - [Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Southern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-fraud-theft-embezzlement-sentences-southern-district-of-mississippi/) (same district, other offense type) - [Federal Robbery Sentences in the Southern District of Mississippi, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-robbery-sentences-southern-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.