Opinion ID: 2445
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Instruction on the Alien Transportation Offenses

Text: Rodriguez contends, in a brief submitted pro se, that the District Court's charge on transporting an illegal alien in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(ii) omitted an element of the offense. Specifically, Rodriguez claims that the district court failed to instruct the jury that the defendant must act in furtherance of such violation of law. Id. This is simply not the case. The District Court's charge included the following: The fourth element of the offense which the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that a defendant acted willfully in furtherance of the alien's violation of the law. In order to establish this element, the government must prove that a defendant knowingly and intentionally transported the alien in furtherance of the alien's unlawful presence in the United States, In other words, the evidence must show a direct and substantial relationship between the transportation and furthering the alien's unlawful presence in the United States. Transportation of illegal aliens is not, by itself, a violation of the statute if it is merely incidental to the alien's presence in the United States. The law pr[o]scribes such conduct only when it is furthering an alien's illegal presence in this country.