Opinion ID: 550890
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Substantive Crime

Text: 14 The statute under which defendant was charged and convicted in this case provides that 15 (1) Any person who-- 16 (B) knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered or remains in the United States in violation of law, transports, or moves or attempts to transport or move such alien within the United States by means of transportation or otherwise, in furtherance of such violation of law; 17 . . . . . 18 shall be fined in accordance with Title 18, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both, for each alien in respect to whom any violation of this paragraph occurs. 19 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1324(a)(1)(B). 20 To establish a violation of 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1324(a)(1)(B), the government must prove that the defendant acted willfully in furtherance of the alien's violation of the law ... [T]here must be a direct and substantial relationship between the transportation and its furtherance of the alien's presence in the United States ... Willful transportation of illegal aliens is not, per se, a violation of the statute, for the law proscribes such conduct only when it is in furtherance of the alien's unlawful presence. United States v. Morales-Rosales, 838 F.2d 1359 (5th Cir.1988). Thus the aliens' status is an element of the crime of transporting illegal aliens. Alvarado-Machado, 867 F.2d at 212. 21 The illegal act committed by alien informant Hernandez-Fana was entering the United States illegally. Once Hernandez-Fana became an informant for the INS and was granted de facto parole status, it may no longer be said that he was committing the act of entering. The effect of parole status is to reclassify an alien from one who is illegally remaining in the United States to one who is legally remaining in the United States regardless of how entry into the United States was effected. Thus, in order for defendant to have been acting in furtherance of Hernandez-Fana's violation of law, defendant would have had to move Hernandez-Fana within the United States in aid of his initial illegal entry. Since such was not the case at hand, it cannot be said that the defendant committed any act in violation of 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1324(a)(1)(B).