AUSTIN -- Fewer and fewer cases have been prosecuted each year since 2013, but the government's new zero-tolerance policy is changing that.
Last month, the Department of Justice announced they will add 35 new prosecutors to handle immigration cases. Fourteen prosecutors are allocated for Texas.
Syracuse University analyzes court records. The data shows that over the last five years, prosecutions continued to drop against people entering the country illegally.
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But this year is set to change that trend.
In April, the government announced its zero-tolerance policy, meaning anyone crossing the border illegally would face criminal prosecution. This caused prosecutions to jump 60 percent, rising from 5,191 in January to 8,298 in April.
These are prosecutions for criminal immigration violations, like entering the country illegally. It is not civil immigration hearings.
A person who crosses illegally may get a criminal prosecution and could go to jail. When they're done serving that sentence, they're then turned back over to immigrations to see if they qualify for any visa, like asylum, or head to removal proceedings.