The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona announced on Friday in a press release that immigration related criminal charges against 287 defendants were brought within 10 days, April 26 through May 5. Part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, known as Operation Take Back America (OTBA), the charges were for entering the country illegally, reentering the country illegally, and human smuggling.
The office has been steadily bringing illegal immigration related charges against defendants since OTBA launched in March. Some of the previous weeks have surpassed the average weekly numbers during the Biden administration last year. Between April 12-18, the office brought 329 charges, far more than the weekly average under President Joe Biden last year of 250 charges per week.
President Donald Trump also ramped up illegal immigration prosecutions during his previous term as president. A 2019 study from the Pew Research Center found that during Trump’s first full fiscal year in 2018, arrests rose to 108,667, well over 58,031 the previous year — a nearly 87 percent increase. Prosecutions rose by 66 percent, from 59,797 to 99,479, marking a two-decade high. Pew found that arrests for unauthorized entry increased from 27,657 in fiscal 2017 to 61,581 in fiscal 2018.
In contrast, during the Biden administration, there was a 55 percent decrease in convictions compared to Trump’s first three years.
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