Opinion ID: 766394
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Other Than for Profit

Text: 41 We are also unpersuaded by Kim's contention that the district court erred in refusing to reduce his offense level pursuant to 2L1.1(b)(1) on the theory that Kim had not harbored Farfan for profit. Preliminarily, we note that the parties disagree as to which side has the burden of proof with respect to whether harboring was or was not for profit (a question that has not been resolved by this Court, see, e.g., United States v. Krcic, No. 98-1667, 186 F.3d, 182 n.6 (2d Cir. July 26, 1999) (declining to reach that question, but noting that the burden of proving entitlement to an offense-level decrease usually rests on the defendant)). The district court did not find it necessary to decide the burden-of-proof question in this case; nor do we, for we conclude that even if the burden was on the government, a preponderance of the evidence showed that Kim harbored Farfan for profit within the meaning of the 1995 version of the Guidelines. 42 The 1995 Guidelines provided that, for a defendant convicted under 1324, the court was to decrease the offense level by three steps [i]f the defendant committed the offense other than for profit. Guidelines 2L1.1(b)(1) (1995). The 1995 Guidelines commentary stated, with an exception not applicable here, that '[f]or profit' means for financial gain or commercial advantage .... Guidelines 2L1.1 Application Note1 (1995). See also 8U.S.C. 1324(a)(1)(B)(i) (Supp. III 1997) (effective September 30, 1996, doubling to 10 years the maximum prison term for violation of 1324(a)(1)(A)(iii) if the harboring was done for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain); cf. id. 1324(a)(2)(B)(ii) (1994) (providing 10-year maximum prison term if offense of bringing illegal alien to United States in violation of 1324(a)(2) was done for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain). The phrases commercial advantage and financial gain are not defined in the statute or the Application Notes, but their meanings are hardly arcane. The usual meaning of commercial, for example, is relating to commerce, or from the point of view of profit: having profit as the primary aim, Webster's Third New International Dictionary 456 (1976), while advantage signifies a benefit, profit, or gain of any kind, id. at 30. 43 Applying the usual meaning of the language used in the 1995 Guidelines commentary, the district court found that Kim had not harbored Farfan other than for profit: 44 If a businessman ... makes a decision such as the one he did with respect to Ms. Farfan, a decision to direct her to falsify a document, a decision to do so in connection with the running of his business, one would think that it's a simple, common sense inference that he's doing it for a business reason, lawful or unlawful business reason, but a business or profit-motivated reason. 45 (Sent. Tr. 42.) The court stated that the evidence 46 strongly supports the view that [Kim] was a hard-nosed business person who had devised, in effect, what he thought was a better mousetrap, a way, through name change, of maintaining illegal employees in a way that simply churning them would not achieve. 47 (Id. at 56.) The evidence that Kim had relied on Farfan to assist him in running his business consisted principally of Farfan's testimony describing her job duties at Sewing Masters, which included review of new employees' social security cards and green cards, the execution of employer verifications to be submitted to the INS, and the day-to-day handling of employee time cards for payroll purposes. Some of these administrative tasks were obviously necessary to the running of any business, and Farfan's performance of certain of these duties sometimes had an unusually direct impact on Kim's profit: Farfan testified that on one occasion Kim scolded her for having made an error on an employment verification form submitted to the INS, telling her that her mistake had cost him $500. Farfan was experienced in performing her administrative duties, having had those responsibilities before Kim acquired the company, and she was plainly a trusted employee, for when Kim traveled outside of the country, Mendez and Farfan were left in charge. 48 There was no evidence that Kim had harbored Farfan out of any feelings of charity or affection, or that he had any motive other than the profitability of his business. We conclude that the evidence was sufficient to support the court's finding that Kim retained Farfan as a valued managerial employee and that he did so only for commercial advantage. 49 Kim's challenge to the court's finding, however, takes a different tack. Kim contends that the interpretation of for profit as encompassing a goal of commercial advantage or financial gain is too broad. In support of that contention, he relies on the 1998 version of the Guidelines, which incorporated amendments to 2L1.1 and its commentary that became effective on May 1, 1997. See Guidelines Appendix C, Amendment 543 (1997). Following the 1997 amendments, 2L1.1(b)(1) continued to provide for a three-step offense-level reduction if the offense was committed other than for profit, Guidelines 2L1.1(b)(1) (1998); but the 1997 amendments deleted the 1995 commentary definition of '[f]or profit' as for financial gain or commercial advantage, Guidelines 2L1.1 Application Note1 (1995), and substituted the statement that 'other than for profit' means that there was no payment or expectation of payment for the harboring, id. Application Note1 (1998). Although we agree with Kim that the government did not present evidence that Kim received or expected to receive payment for harboring Farfan, we are unpersuaded that the 1998 commentary was applicable to him. 50 In order to avoid an ex post facto problem, Kim was sentenced under the 1995 Guidelines, which were in effect during most of the period of his offense and in which 2L1.1(b)(2) (setting base offense level at nine and requiring a two-step increase for harboring 6-24 aliens) was more favorable to him than the corresponding provision of the 1998 Guidelines, see Guidelines 2L1.1(b)(2) (1998) (setting base offense level at 12 and requiring a three-step increase for harboring 6-24 aliens). See generally United States v. Adeniyi, 912 F.2d 615, 618 (2d Cir. 1990) (court is to apply the version of the Guidelines in effect at the time of sentencing unless there is an ex post facto problem). Since [a] version of the sentencing guidelines is to be applied in its entirety, and the sentencing court has no authority to pick and choose, taking one provision from an earlier version of the guidelines and another from a later version, United States v. Keller, 58 F.3d 884, 890 (2d Cir. 1995), the 1998 version of the 2L1.1(b)(1) commentary is not directly applicable to Kim. 51 A defendant sentenced under one version of the Guidelines may, however, be given the benefit of a later revision if the revision represents not a substantive change but merely a clarification of the Sentencing Commission's prior intent. See, e.g., United States v. Colon, 961 F.2d 41, 45 (2d Cir. 1992); United States v. Hewitt, 902 F.2d 1082, 1084 n.1 (2d Cir. 1990) (per curiam). Frequently when the language of a guideline or its commentary is altered, the Commission states its intent in making the change. In such an instance, the Commission's characterization of the alteration as a clarification, rather than a change in substance, is accorded considerable deference. See, e.g., United States v. Mapp, 990 F.2d 58, 61 (2d Cir. 1993); United States v. Joyner, 924 F.2d 454, 458 (2d Cir. 1991); United States v. Guerrero, 863 F.2d 245, 250 (2d Cir. 1988). 52 The 1997 amendments to 2L1.1 were not accompanied by any statement that the Commission intended the change in Application Note1 simply as a clarification. See Guidelines Appendix C, Amendment 543 (1997). Instead, the amendments made numerous changes in the guideline and its commentary, and the Commission characterized the changes, in bulk, as implement[ing] section 203 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, Pub. L. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009-566, which directs the Commission to amend the guidelines for offenses related to smuggling, transporting, or harboring illegal aliens. Guidelines Appendix C, Amendment 543 (1997). We see nothing in this statement to suggest that the Commission amended Application Note1 merely to clarify the Commission's original intent. 53 Further, on its face, the 1997 change to Application Note 1 appears to effect a substantial change in scope rather than to clarify. Plainly, a commercial advantage may encompass more than a simple payment or expectation of payment. Had it been the Sentencing Commission's original intent that the for profit concept be restricted narrowly to payment or expectation of payment, we doubt that the Commission would have chosen to express that restriction in terms so broad as commercial advantage. 54 In the circumstances, we are persuaded that the 1998 Guidelines reflect a substantive change to 2L1.1 Application Note1 rather than a clarification. Accordingly, the district court properly declined to construe the 1995 version of 2L1.1(b)(1) as entitling a defendant to a reduction in offense level where he received a commercial advantage other than payment or the expectation of payment. 55 We see no clear error in the district court's factual finding that Kim harbored Farfan for commercial advantage, and we see no abuse of discretion in its refusal to apply 2L1.1(b)(1) to him.