Despite promises from the Biden DHS that "Repeat offenders" would be referred for criminal proceedings, prosecutions for most immigration-related offenses have plummeted since the start of the pandemic, and are unlikely to rise under the current administration.
Only smuggling prosecutions are returning to normal.
TRAC's report examines three different categories of border-related criminal immigration charges: Illegal entry under section 275 of the Immigration and Nationality Act; illegal reentry of removed aliens under section 276 of the INA; and smuggling by bringing in and harboring illegal aliens under section 274 of the INA. Illegal entry is both a civil ground of removability under the INA and, as noted, a criminal offense.
Thanks to orders issued under Title 42 of the U.S. Code by the CDC in response to the pandemic, DHS began quickly expelling illegal migrants beginning in late March 2020, and therefore both the total number of illegal entrants and border-related criminal prosecutions fell, as TRAC explained.
In August 2020, there were just 21 prosecutions for illegal entry under section 275 of the INA, although prosecutions for illegal reentry began to increase that month.
All told under Biden, there have been just 178 prosecutions for illegal entry under section 275 of the INA. Similarly, in February, the first full month of the Biden administration, there were a mere 997 prosecutions for illegal reentry after removal, down from a pre-pandemic Trump high of 4,035 in July 2019.
TRAC cites to, of all sources, the libertarian Cato Institute for the proposition that: "Many immigration commentators. ... viewed criminal prosecution as a disincentive for crossing unlawfully." I concur, and if Cato and I agree, it must be true.
https://cis.org/Arthur/Criminal-Immigration-Prosecutions-Plummet-One-Smuggling-Exception
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