Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Western District of Missouri, FY2016–2025
All 184 people sentenced for immigration offenses in the Western District of Missouri in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 pleaded guilty. 175 (95%) received a prison term, and the median was 12 months, compared with 7 months for all 94 federal districts.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the Western District of Missouri, FY201 › Immigration Offense: Western District of Missouri
In brief: All 184 people sentenced for immigration offenses in the Western District of Missouri in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 pleaded guilty. 175 (95%) received a prison term, and the median was 12 months, compared with 7 months for all 94 federal districts.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 184 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.
Every Case Ended in a Guilty Plea
184 of 184 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none were convicted after a trial. For all districts, more than 99% pleaded guilty. For all offenses in this district, the rate was 98%.
Plea agreements were uncommon: 29% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 71% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Prison Terms and Probation
175 people (95%) were sent to prison, and 8 (4%) received probation only. For all districts, 95% of the 217,838 people in this offense type were sent to prison, the same share as here.
Among those sent to prison here, a quarter received 24 months or more, and a quarter received 6.7 months or less. The median for all offenses in this district was 72 months, which is much longer than for immigration.
Most Sentences Were Within the Guideline Range
71% (130) of the 184 sentences were within the range. 16% (29) were above it. 12% (22) were below it without a government request, and 2% (3) were below it at the government's request.
For all districts, 62% of immigration sentences were within the range. For all offenses in this district, 38% were. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 2 of the 184 people with that information recorded (1%).
Guidelines Used
The U.S. Sentencing Commission assigns immigration cases by primary guideline. Most were §2L1.2 (Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States), for 160 people. §2L2.2 (Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status for Own Use) was used for 13.
§2L2.1 (Trafficking in a Document Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status, or a United States Passport) was used for 10, and §2L1.1 (Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien) for 1. Immigration cases were 2% of the 7,571 people sentenced in the district.
Supervision, Fines, and Criminal History
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 172 people (93%), with a median term of 12 months. A fine was ordered for 4 (2%), and restitution for 2 (1%).
In criminal history, 29% were in category I, the lowest, and 1% in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Year-by-Year Medians
Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 83 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 101. Fiscal year 2019 had 40 people, the most in any year, and fiscal year 2024 had 9, the fewest.
The table lists a median of 8 months in fiscal year 2016 and 20 months in fiscal year 2021. The records cannot show why yearly medians differ.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 17 | 8 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 12 | 11 months | 100% |
| 2018 | 14 | 11 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 40 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 25 | 14 months | 100% |
| 2021 | 13 | 20 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 12 | 18 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 14 | 17.9 months | 100% |
| 2024 | 9 | 12 months | 9 of 9 |
| 2025 | 28 | 12 months | 100% |
Limits of the Data
Only people convicted and sentenced are counted. Acquittals and dismissals are not, and prison terms are those imposed, not served.
Fort Leonard Wood and Whiteman AFB are in this district. Their courts-martial are tried in military courts, outside this federal count.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Western District of Missouri (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Missouri West") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Immigration" (184). 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 Western District of Missouri, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Western District of Missouri, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Western District of Missouri, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Western District of Missouri, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Child Pornography Sentences in the Western District of Missouri, 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.