Prosecution of illegal immigrants in North Alabama rises 200 percent under Trump

Prosecution of illegal immigrants in North Alabama rises 200 percent under Trump

(File Photo)

By Tyler Pruett, Managing Editor 

tyler@southerntorch.com

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — According to numbers just released by the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, prosecution of criminal immigration cases rose 212.5 percent in North Alabama during President Donald Trump's first year in office.

After being sworn in to the oval office, President Trump set about replacing Federal Judges and Prosecutors to more aggressively tackle illegal immigration, violent crime, and the nation's drug problem.

One of these prosecutors who took office in the last year was U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, who took office in August 2017. During this short time span, Town is showing big results towards achieving these goals.

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, Jay E Town.

During Fiscal Year 2017, Federal Prosecutor Jay E Town tried 50 criminal immigration cases this year, as opposed to only 16 tried in 2016, which is the most since 2004.

Overall, the number of federal charges brought against criminals and the percentage of those defendants sentenced to prison is at it's highest since 2011

“Charging more defendants, putting more criminals behind bars, and preventing future criminal activity makes the Northern District a safer place for our families,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Town.

“I am very proud that my office has successfully prosecuted the priorities of the Department of Justice and we will continue to do so," Town said in a statement. "In addition to our impressive prosecutorial and litigation numbers, we continue to install and manage comprehensive violence reduction and crime prevention initiatives across the Northern District, such as Project Safe Neighborhoods and the Public Safety Partnership, which will continue to make our communities more secure, our partnerships more robust, and our law enforcement agencies more impactful.”

Along with the increase in federal immigration prosecutions, the overall priorities of the Department of Justice are to reduce illegal gun crimes, reduce violent crime, pursue criminal immigration matters, and to aggressively address the opioid epidemic in Alabama. The U.S. Attorney’s Office showed vast improvement in all categories in 2017 over the previous fiscal year.

When it comes to convictions, 94.4 percent of cases resulted in a conviction, which is the highest since at least 2004. The overall number of criminals charged was 540 for this year; up 32.4 percent from 2016. The 239 defendants charged with violent crimes in 2017 was a 39.8 percent increase over the 171 charged with violent crimes in 2016.

Illegal firearms prosecutions also rose 36 percent in FY 2017 to 225 from 165 in FY 2016. Illegal firearms prosecutions are 57.9 percent higher than the average of the previous four fiscal years.

There were also 33 defendants charged with opioid-related crimes in 2017, which was a 65 percent increase over the 20 defendants charged with opioid crimes in 2016.