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In November, officials in the Tucson sector said they wanted to mirror the successes of the operations in other sectors, hoping to prosecute 100 illegal immigrants daily.
But the strain that added prosecutions will put on other parts of the justice system will limit the program's startup to 40 cases each weekday. The number is likely to reach 60 eventually. That will only cover a small number of the people caught.
Border Patrol agents in the Tucson sector caught some 378,000 illegal immigrants in the past fiscal year, an average of more than 1,000 a day. In contrast, there were fewer than 23,000 apprehensions all year in Del Rio; 38,000 in Yuma, and fewer than 57,000 in Laredo.
Even with only 40 prosecutions a day, expenses will likely add up to millions of dollars a year for housing, transporting, prosecuting and defending those who are charged.
While a higher number of arrests clearly occur daily in the Tucson sector, trying to prosecute many more on a daily basis clearly would overwhelm the system, various federal officials say.
‘‘It's going to have an impact on the court pretty dramatically once it reaches what its full plan is,'' said Richard Weare, clerk of the U.S. District Court for Arizona.
The impact will range from requiring magistrate judges to be available and finding enough qualified private lawyers to help represent the bulk of defendants to sufficient interpreters, added court staff and bringing in more prosecutors.
In addition, the added daily prisoners will clog or possibly overflow the Tucson courthouse's holding facilities, which accommodate only 80 prisoners now.
They will require additional marshals for courtroom and cellblock operations and will rapidly fill vacant beds in federal detention centers in Arizona and other states, fueling added prisoner transportation and housing costs.
‘‘It's going to have a tremendous impact, there's no question about it,'' said David Gonzales, U.S. marshal for Arizona.
Heather Williams, first assistant federal public defender in Tucson, said her office will provide two trial lawyers daily, each to represent six defendants.
Attorneys for the other 28 defendants will be appointed from a court-approved private attorney list at a congressionally approved cost of $100 an hour.
The program will cost about $2,600 a day from her office's budget. Court costs for the other defense attorneys will total another $7,200 to $8,000 daily, she said.
If cases are heard 50 weeks a year, defense costs will approach $2.5 million a year.
Those arrested for the first time typically receive sentences ranging from 15 days to six months under the program used in other areas.
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