Targeting immigrants

Recently released U.S. Department of Justice data show 64 percent of all federal arrests in fiscal year 2018 were of non-U.S. citizens, a sharp increase over fiscal year 2017 and a development The Marshall Project—a nonprofit news organization focused on criminal justice issues—says coincides with the Justice Department’s “zero tolerance” policy “aimed at ramping up criminal prosecution of people caught entering the country illegally.” Of the 125,027 federal non-U.S. citizen arrests in 2018, 105,748 were for immigration-related offenses. In 2017, federal non-U.S. citizen arrests totaled 73,022, with 55,454 being for immigration-related offenses. Looking deeper into the numbers, The Marshall Project found U.S. citizens were arrested more often than non-U.S. citizens in every category of crime except immigration. “For instance, for every non-U.S. citizen arrested for violent crime, 10 U.S. citizens were arrested,” according to the organization. “For every non-U.S. citizen arrested for drug charges, three U.S. citizens were arrested.”