TRAC Immigration – Federal Prosecutors Along Southwest Border
Overwhelmed by Soaring Arizona Drug Cases: “Federal prosecutors along the Southwest border with Mexico — many already strained by the rise in their immigration caseloads — are facing a new challenge: how to handle a sharp jump in drug cases. The extent of this problem can be seen in Justice Department data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) showing that during the first four months of FY 2010 drug cases in this region had surged by almost a third (30 percent) from what they were just 16 months ago and were up by 7 percent over levels at the end of FY 2009. This sharp regional increase is in stark contrast with the national pattern where drug prosecutions for the rest of the country have been steadily declining for a number of years, with the first four months of FY 2010 down by 17 percent since FY 2008 and down 12 percent from last year. The drug enforcement surge in the southwest varied among the five federal districts, with Arizona showing the sharpest growth and the prosecution rate in California South (San Diego) actually declining.”