U.S. Attorney for Arizona Gary Restaino speaks during a press conference in July 2024.The U.S. Attorney in Arizona prosecuted more than 10,500 people in 2024 for entering or reentering the country illegally, a record in recent years.
U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino says that is in part due to the fact that the number of migrants crossing the border has dropped.
“When Border Patrol has fewer people coming in, such as after the executive order by President Biden in or around June of 2024, they are able to process more cases for prosecution,” Restaino said. “So fewer people coming in in the summer means that Border Patrol has more time to push cases forward for prosecution, and that's on the illegal re-entry and entry side, but it's also on the alien smuggling side.”
The office prosecuted more than 12 hundred people for smuggling undocumented migrants last year, a 16% increase from 2023. That includes prosecutions of leaders and coordinators of smuggling organizations and also 11 underage teens. Many of the smugglers are U.S. citizens.
Restaino also said that border-related charges now are more likely to be a misdemeanor rather than a felony, which means the demographic arrested for crossing the border now have less of a criminal history than last year.
By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.