Opinion ID: 205369
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Operative Date for an Illegal Reentry Offense

Text: This Court has repeatedly . . . held that the crime of being `found in' the United States after deportation is a continuing offense which continues so long as the alien remains in the country. That is, the offense commences with the illegal entry, but is not completed until discovery. United States v. Reyes-Pacheco, 248 F.3d 942, 946 (9th Cir.2001) (internal citations omitted). We have also observed that presence at any time subsequent to the entry is a crime subject to the penalties then in effect. United States v. Guzman-Bruno, 27 F.3d 420, 423 (9th Cir.1994). Although we have used the reentry date for Sentencing Guidelines calculations in certain circumstances and have used the found-in date in others, we have never held that one date must always be used instead of the other. Two of our cases illustrate this point. In Reyes-Pacheco, the defendant was found by authorities in 2000 but admitted to reentering the United States in 1996. 248 F.3d at 944. The sentencing court used the 1996 reentry date instead of the 2000 found-in date when computing criminal history points under U.S.S.G. § 4A1.1(d) for the § 1326 violation. Id. Reyes-Pacheco received two points for committing the offense while on parole or less than two years following release from imprisonment. Id. at 946. Reyes-Pacheco was on parole for a prior offense in 1996 but, in 2000, was no longer on parole or within two years of being released. On plain error review, we affirmed. We held that [g]iven the continuing nature of the `found in' offense, `part of the instant offense'. . . occurred on April 11, 1996, and it was not error to use the 1996 date. Id.; see also United States v. Marler, 527 F.3d 874, 879 n. 3 (9th Cir.2008) (discussing the continuing nature of a § 1326 violation). Our decision in United States v. Ramirez-Valencia, 202 F.3d 1106, 1110 (9th Cir.2000), affirmed the district court's use of the found-in date instead of the reentry date in determining the defendant's sentence, but in a different context. Ramirez-Valencia was convicted of alien smuggling in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(2) in 1986 and was deported in 1988. Sometime before September 1994, the defendant illegally reentered and remained in the United States. In 1996, after he had reentered the country, Congress enacted the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), which reclassified alien smuggling as an aggravated felony. Then, in 1998, the defendant was found and pled guilty to being a deported alien found in the United States under 8 U.S.C. § 1326. At sentencing for the § 1326 offense, the district court treated his 1986 conviction for alien smuggling as an aggravated felony and increased the offense level accordingly. Id. at 1108. The defendant argued that because he reentered the country prior to September 1994, before the IIRIRA reclassification took effect, the court should not apply the sentencing enhancement. Id. at 1110. Although we agreed that IIRIRA should not be applied retroactively, we concluded that because a § 1326 offense was a continuing offense, the defendant violated § 1326 on the date he was found, which was in 1998, after IIRIRA became effective. We upheld the sentencing enhancement based on the found date, not the reentry date, and thus there was no retroactive application of IIRIRA. Id.; see also United States v. Mendoza-Iribe, 198 F.3d 742, 744 (9th Cir. 1999) (concluding that because § 1326 is a continuing offense, it did not violate the ex post facto clause to apply the IIRIRA amendments to a defendant who had reentered the country prior to the amendments but who had been found after the amendments). Reyes-Pacheco and Ramirez-Valencia, together, stand for the principle that a defendant's presence in this country after an unlawful reentry may give rise to additional penalties. See Guzman-Bruno, 27 F.3d at 423. The statute's plain language makes it a crime to enter or be at any time found in the United States. Id.; 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a)(2). The continuous nature of the § 1326 offense puts defendants on notice that they are in violation each day they remain illegally in the United States. The context of each case will determine which date during the continuous time period is relevant for calculating criminal history points for a § 1326 violation. For instance, in Reyes-Pacheco, the question was whether the defendant had committed the reentry offense while on parole. 248 F.3d at 946. Therefore, the earlier portion of his § 1326 offense that overlapped with the parole period was the pertinent time period. Id. In contrast, in Ramirez-Valencia, the later part of the § 1326 offense was the relevant time period because it occurred after IIRIRA took effect. 202 F.3d at 1110. Our decision in United States v. Maria-Gonzalez, 268 F.3d 664 (9th Cir.2001), is consistent with this understanding. In that decision we summarized Ramirez-Valencia to say that the offense of being found in the United States occurs on the date the defendant is apprehended. Id. at 668. That statement must be understood in its context. Like Ramirez-Valencia, Maria-Gonzalez was concerned with applying IIRIRA to a § 1326 violation that commenced prior to IIRIRA's enactment but continued past IIRIRA's effective date. We did not say that the offense of being found in the United States occurred only on the date of apprehension. Nor could we have, for the offense is a continuing one. Maria-Gonzalez did not distinguish Reyes-Pacheco and did not purport to redefine the law on this issue. For the purpose of calculating criminal history points under U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(e)(1) based on a prior conviction and sentence, the issue raised by the case at hand, the operative date of a § 1326 offense is the date of reentry, as we held in Reyes-Pacheco. Under U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(e)(1), the sentencing court counts a prior offense and adds three points only if the prior sentence was imposed within fifteen years of the defendant's commencement of the instant offense. Id. (emphasis added). As noted above, the offense of being found in the United States commences with the illegal entry. Reyes-Pacheco, 248 F.3d at 946. The district court properly based Hernandez's criminal history score on his reentry date instead of the date he was found and arrested.