Opinion ID: 612089
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether Alienage May Ever Be Considered

Text: 13 The government argues that the Guidelines themselves expressly forbid consideration of alienage as a basis for departure because they state that a defendant's national origin is not relevant to the determination of a defendant's sentence, see Guidelines § 5H1.10 Policy Statement. We find this argument unpersuasive. 14 Preliminarily, we note that both the Guidelines and the Sentencing Reform Act allow the sentencing court [to] impose a sentence outside the range established by the applicable guideline, if the court finds 'that there exists an aggravating or mitigating circumstance of a kind, or to a degree, not adequately taken into consideration by the Sentencing Commission in formulating the guidelines that should result in a sentence different from that described.'  Guidelines § 5K2.0 Policy Statement (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 3553(b) (1988)). We have increasingly recognized the importance of departure by reason of offender characteristics for the fair fulfillment of the sentencing scheme prescribed by the Sentencing Reform Act and the Sentencing Guidelines. United States v. Merritt, 988 F.2d 1298, 1309 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 2933, 124 L.Ed.2d 683 (1993). 15 Thus, though certain Guidelines provisions state that certain defendant characteristics are not ordinarily relevant to a departure determination, see, e.g., Guidelines § 5H1.3 Policy Statement (mental and emotional conditions); id. § 5H1.4 Policy Statement (physical condition or appearance, including physique); id. § 5H1.6 Policy Statement (family ties and responsibilities), this does not necessarily mean that that characteristic is never relevant, see United States v. Johnson, 964 F.2d 124, 128-29 (2d Cir.1992). We have reasoned that [i]f the Commission had intended an absolute rule that [particular] circumstances may never be taken into account in any way, it would have said so, id. at 129, and we have on more than one occasion upheld a departure based on a characteristic that is not ordinarily relevant where the consequences of that characteristic were present to an extreme outside the heartland of cases, see, e.g., United States v. Mickens, 977 F.2d 69, 73 (2d Cir.1992) (emotional condition); United States v. Maier, 975 F.2d 944, 948 (2d Cir.1992) (drug rehabilitation); United States v. Johnson, 964 F.2d at 129-30 (family circumstances); United States v. Gonzalez, 945 F.2d 525, 526-27 (2d Cir.1991) (physical appearance); cf. United States v. Concepcion, 983 F.2d 369, 389 (2d Cir.1992) (though use of Guidelines' cross-reference was intended by Commission, cross-reference had an effect to a degree not considered by Commission, thereby giving district court power to depart downward), petition for cert. filed (U.S. June 23, 1993). 16 Turning to the matter of alienage, we note that the Guidelines state unqualifiedly that national origin is not relevant in sentencing determinations. Guidelines § 5H1.10 Policy Statement. National origin, i.e., having been born in a particular country, however, is not synonymous with alienage, i.e., simply not being a citizen of the country in which one is present. See, e.g., Webster's Third New International Dictionary 53 (1976). Thus, the prohibition against consideration of national origin does not constitute a prohibition against consideration of alienage. Nor do we see any reason why it should. We think it difficult to envision any penological pertinence of the fact that a defendant was born in a particular foreign country. The fact that a defendant is not a United States citizen, on the other hand, potentially has logical relevance to his treatment upon conviction, for Congress, which has broad powers to establish principles governing an alien's right to remain in the United States, see Fiallo v. Bell, 430 U.S. 787, 792, 97 S.Ct. 1473, 1477, 52 L.Ed.2d 50 (1977); Galvan v. Press, 347 U.S. 522, 530-31, 74 S.Ct. 737, 742, 98 L.Ed. 911 (1954), has decreed that certain types of offenses require an alien's deportation. 17 The Guidelines do not expressly bar consideration of alienage. Indeed, with respect to certain immigration or passport offenses, a sentencing court is expressly directed by the Guidelines to take into account the defendant's alienage. See, e.g., Guidelines § 2L1.1(b)(3) (prescribing eight-step increase in offense level where, inter alia, defendant is an unlawful alien); id. § 2L2.2(b)(1) (same except prescribing two-step increase); id. § 2L2.4(b)(1) (same). We thus see nothing in the Guidelines themselves that automatically excludes a downward departure on the ground of a defendant's alienage. 18 The government also argues that alienage cannot be deemed a factor of a kind, or to a degree, not adequately taken into consideration by the Commission because alienage is a characteristic shared by a large part of the heartland of cases considered by the Sentencing Commission in formulating the Guidelines. We agree that, to the extent that alienage is a characteristic shared by a large number of persons subject to the Guidelines, it is a characteristic that, for sentencing purposes, is not ordinarily relevant. It remains, however, a characteristic that may be considered if a sentencing court finds that its effect is beyond the ordinary. 19 In sum, we decline to rule that pertinent collateral consequences of a defendant's alienage could not serve as a valid basis for departure if those consequences were extraordinary in nature or degree. Resolution of that question, however, is unnecessary to this appeal, for we conclude that none of the bases relied on by the district court, i.e., (1) the unavailability of preferred conditions of confinement, (2) the possibility of an additional period of detention pending deportation following the completion of sentence, and (3) the effect of deportation as banishment from the United States and separation from family, justified the departure.