They file into the courtroom in lines and tan jumpsuits, shackles chained around their feet. They watch intently, almost all of them wearing headphones for Spanish translation, as the judge explains their charges. Then they leave the courtroom and the next group comes.
That was the scene in a federal courtroom in downtown San Diego this week, where an increasing number of migrants are facing criminal charges under the Trump administration for illegally entering the country.
Federal prosecutions for immigration crimes in San Diego and Imperial counties have surpassed more than 3,200 from October through June, the first three-quarters of this fiscal year. That number is on pace to more than double from the previous fiscal year, according to federal data from a nonpartisan research organization…