Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Western District of Tennessee, FY2016–2025
In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 97 people were sentenced for immigration offenses in the Western District of Tennessee. The median prison term was 6 months, and 96 of the 97 (99%) pleaded guilty. For immigration cases in all 94 federal districts, the median prison term was 7 months.
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In brief: In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 97 people were sentenced for immigration offenses in the Western District of Tennessee. The median prison term was 6 months, and 96 of the 97 (99%) pleaded guilty. For immigration cases in all 94 federal districts, the median prison term was 7 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 97 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.
What Is Different About Immigration Cases Here?
Immigration cases were 2% of the 4,226 people sentenced in this district in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Their prison terms were far shorter than the district's overall median of 60 months for all offenses.
Compared with immigration cases in all 94 districts, the numbers are close. The district median of 6 months compares with 7 months nationally. Prison was imposed on 97% of people here and 95% nationally.
The Commission's offense type "Immigration" is its own category, and each person is placed in it by the primary guideline that applied to the sentence.
Which Guidelines Applied?
The most common primary guideline was §2L1.2 (Unlawfully Entering or Remaining in the United States), which applied to 68 people. Of the rest, 4 people each were sentenced under §2L2.1 (Trafficking in a Document Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status, or a United States Passport) and §2L2.2 (Fraudulently Acquiring Documents Relating to Naturalization, Citizenship, or Legal Resident Status for Own Use).
Another 3 people were sentenced under §2L1.1 (Smuggling, Transporting, or Harboring an Unlawful Alien).
Prison Terms and Probation
Of the 97 people, 94 (97%) received a prison term. Another 3 (3%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Among those sent to prison, a quarter received 12 months or more, and a quarter received 2 months or less.
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 39 people (40%), with a median term of 12 months. No fine or restitution was ordered for anyone in these cases.
Guilty Pleas and the One Trial
The 96 guilty pleas make up 99% of the cases. Only 1 person was convicted after a trial.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 6 months. The median after a trial was 24 months, but it rests on that 1 person, so it cannot be treated as a pattern.
Among the guilty pleas, 63% had a written plea agreement and 34% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range
Information on the guideline range was available for 91 people. For 73% (66), the sentence was within the range.
The sentence was below the range at the government's request for 9% (8) and below the range without a government request for 18% (16). One person was sentenced above the range. All districts together had 62% within the range, so this district had a higher share within the range.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 90 people with that information recorded. Criminal history was in the lowest category I for 38% of people and in the highest category, VI, for 2%.
Year by Year
Fiscal years run from October 1 through the end of September. The district sentenced 62 people for immigration offenses in fiscal years 2016 to 2019 and 35 people in fiscal years 2020 to 2025.
Fiscal year 2019 had the most people, 32. Several later years had 3 or 4 people, so the median for those years rests on very few cases and should not be read as a trend.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 6 | 15 months | 6 of 6 |
| 2017 | 4 | 2.8 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2018 | 20 | 7 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 32 | 4.9 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 14 | 4.6 months | 100% |
| 2021 | 3 | 14 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2022 | 4 | 21 months | 3 of 4 |
| 2023 | 6 | 11 months | 6 of 6 |
| 2024 | 4 | 9.5 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2025 | 4 | 8 months | 4 of 4 |
What the Records Do Not Show
The Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Dismissals and acquittals are not in the data, so the records cannot show how many immigration cases began and ended another way.
Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time actually served. The data also does not describe the facts of any single case.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Western District of Tennessee (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Tennessee West") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Immigration" (97). 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 (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 Tennessee, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Western District of Tennessee, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Western District of Tennessee, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Western District of Tennessee, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Robbery Sentences in the Western District of Tennessee, 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.