Emails (excerpted), Julie Samuels, senior fellow, the Justice Policy Center, the Urban Institute, July 21 and 25, 2016
From: Selby, Gardner (CMG-Austin)
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2016 9:34 AM
To: Samuels, Julie
Subject: Fresh inquiry, Texas reporter
Hello again. I appreciated your help before and I am asking for on-the-record help again as we assess a claim by Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas that one third of federal inmates today are illegal immigrants.
This USSC table has been offered as backup. It seems to show 38 percent of individuals sentenced in fiscal 2014 were illegal aliens. Am I reading that right?
It also looks like the vast bulk of those individuals were sentenced primarily for violating federal immigration laws; if that’s so, could you elaborate on what crimes this covers? If it’s not so, what’s an accurate interpretation?
The Bureau of Prisons advises that about 22 percent of federal inmates of late are non-US citizens and, it says, it doesn’t track immigration status. Any guidance on why nearly 40 percent of the individuals sentenced in fiscal 2014 were illegal aliens yet the overall inmate population is as described?
Other relevant considerations?
THANKS.
G.
W. Gardner Selby
Reporter / News
Austin American-Statesman
PolitiFact Texas
From: Samuels, Julie
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2016 12:35 PM
To: Selby, Gardner (CMG-Austin)
Subject: RE: Fresh inquiry, Texas reporter
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The composition of the sentenced /BOP admissions populations is not the same as the BOP stock (or standing) population. The difference is because the standing population has a greater share of people with longer lengths of stay.
9:11 a.m.
July 25, 2016
I’ve inserted my responses to your original set of questions. Hope this clarifies things.
Julie
· This USSC table has been offered as backup. It seems to show 38 percent of individuals sentenced in fiscal 2014 were illegal aliens. Am I reading that right?
JS response: Yes, the table shows that 37% (36.7%) of those sentenced in FY 2014 were illegal aliens.
It also looks like the vast bulk of those individuals were sentenced primarily for violating federal immigration laws; if that’s so, could you elaborate on what crimes this covers? If it’s not so, what’s an accurate interpretation?
JS: Yes, the table shows that almost three quarters (20,333/27,505) of those categorized as illegal aliens in the table were sentenced for immigration offenses (that was their primary offense category).
The USSC 2014 Sourcebook of Federal Statistics includes more details about those sentenced for immigration offenses (see Appendix A, for example, which defines immigration: “Immigration includes trafficking in U.S. passports; trafficking in entry documents; failure to surrender naturalization certificate; fraudulently acquiring U.S. passports; smuggling, etc.; unlawful alien; fraudulently acquiring entry documents; and unlawfully entering the U.S.”). The USSC has other information, including a couple of the Quick Facts documents on immigration that might be useful. Here’s a table that shows the distribution of immigration cases by guideline type. Footnote 1 describes the types of cases. Most of the immigration cases are illegal reentry cases, followed by alien smuggling.
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The Bureau of Prisons advises that about 22 percent of federal inmates of late are non-US citizens and, it says, it doesn’t track immigration status. Any guidance on why nearly 40 percent of the individuals sentenced in fiscal 2014 were illegal aliens yet the overall inmate population is as described?
JS: The 22% figure regarding non-citizens is on BOP’s website (See below). As I noted, the composition of the sentenced /BOP admissions populations is not the same as the BOP stock (or standing) population (see Figure 3, p.28 in the Colson Task Force final report as an illustration). The standing population is not only a function of the number of people entering prison, but also by how much time they serve – which is largely determined by their sentences. People convicted of immigration crimes tend to have shorter sentences than many other offense categories (e.g., drugs).
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