241 Illegal Aliens Charged in Arizona in June

ICE officers apprehend fugitive criminal illegal immigrants for alleged involvement in the illegal narcotics trade, in Boston, Mass., on Nov. 4, 2019. (Courtesy of ICE)

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona has reported that 241 individuals were charged with illegal entry into the country in June. Forty of those charged had prior violent crime convictions.

Of the 241 charged, 178 had previously been convicted of non-immigration criminal offenses in the United States, according to the agency’s Arizona June 2021 Immigration and Border Crimes report.

The report states that six of the illegal aliens had homicide convictions, while eight of the individuals had sex offense convictions. Another six had convictions for domestic violence; 10 had property crime convictions; 36 had drunken-driving convictions; and 90 had drug-related convictions.

In addition, 74 illegal aliens were charged in June with smuggling illegal immigrants, the report states.

These numbers represent U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecutions only and don’t include those apprehended by immigration enforcement officials and “subjected solely to administrative process,” according to the report.

In March 2020, the DHS instituted a policy of “expeditiously” returning aliens who illegally enter the United States rather than detaining them.

“The decreased number of individuals presented to this office for prosecution coincides with the implementation of that policy and other COVID-19 related border restrictions,” the report reads.

According to new Customs and Border Protection figures, Border Patrol agents have made more than 1 million arrests at the U.S.–Mexico border in 2021, with 178,000 arrests in June alone, a 3 percent increase over the previous month.