One-fifth of all federal prison inmates are not U.S citizens, many facing illegal immigration charges, according to new data from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

There are a total of 35,009 “criminal aliens” of 180,344 in prison, and 60% are Mexican, according to an analysis provided to Secrets by David Olen Cross of Salem, Ore., a crime researcher who writes on immigration issues and foreign national crime.

The prison data in Cross’ report shows:



Mexico 21,627 inmates, 12%.

Colombia 1,664 inmates, 0.9%.

Dominican Republic 1,452 inmates, 0.8%.

Cuba 1,161 inmates, 0.6%.

Other / unknown countries 9,105 inmates, 5%.

United States 145,335 inmates, 80.6%.

And he added, “The U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons breaks down the federal prison population into 13 types of offenses. One of the top five offenses, the reason inmates are serving time in federal prisons is for immigration crimes. There were 10,984 inmates in the BOP prison system incarcerated for immigration crimes; they were 6.5% of the federal prison population.”

