Immigration crimes accounted for half of federal criminal arrests in 2014 % offederalcriminalaread by type ofoffense
Federal law enforcement agencies are making more arrests for immigration-related offenses and fewer arrests for other types of offenses – including drug, property and gun crimes – than they were a decade ago, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of new data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Half (50%) of the 165,265 total arrests made by the federal government in fiscal 2014 – the most recent year for which statistics are available – were for immigration-related offenses, such as crossing the border illegally or smuggling others into the United States. A decade earlier, immigration-related offenses accounted for 28% of all federal arrests.
At the same time, arrests for drug crimes fell from 23% of the total in 2004 to 14% in 2014. Those for supervision violations, such as probation or parole infractions, fell from 17% to 14%. Arrests for property crimes, including fraud and embezzlement, declined from 11% to 8%. And arrests for weapon offenses, such as possession of an unregistered firearm, fell from 7% to 4%.
Immigration crimes accounted for half of federal  | criminal arrests in 2014  | % offederalcriminalaread by type ofoffense  | Immigration  | 50%  | 28%  | 23%  | Drug  | 17%  | Supervision  | 14%  | 11%  | Property  | 8%  | 7%  | Wea pons  | 4%  | 2004  | 2006  | 2008  | 2010  | 2014  | 2012  | Note: Figures are by fisca lyear endingSept. 30 and representarrests, notindividuals  | arrested Annua totals do notadd to 100% beca use of other crime types thatare not  | arrested shown. Supervision offenses include viol.tion.offederal beca pro bation types and parole.  | Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 