Court Opinion

ID: 9957759
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-05 13:00:42.504954+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:18:37.667527
License: Public Domain

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                                               UNPUBLISHED

                                   UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                       FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                                  No. 21-4563

        UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                                Plaintiff – Appellee,

                        v.

        CLAUDIO ALVAREZ RODRIGUEZ,

                                Defendant – Appellant.

        ------------------------------

        LEGAL SERVICE PROVIDERS; IMMIGRANT RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS;
        DR. S. DEBORAH KANG; ASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING JUSTICE;
        HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST; NORTHWEST IMMIGRANT RIGHTS PROJECT;
        ADVOCATES FOR BASIC LEGAL EQUALITY, INC.; JUSTICE STRATEGIES;
        LATINOJUSTICE   PRLDEF;   LEGAL   AID      JUSTICE   CENTER;
        MASSACHUSETTS LAW REFORM INSTITUTE; NATIONAL IMMIGRATION
        LAW CENTER; IMMIGRATION SCHOLARS; CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION
        LAW AND POLICY; AOKI CENTER FOR CRITICAL RACE AND NATION
        STUDIES; SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER; PROFESSOR ERIC FISH,

                       Amici Supporting Appellant.

        Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at
        Alexandria. Anthony John Trenga, Senior District Judge. (1:21−cr−00179−AJT−1)

        Argued: September 22, 2023                                         Decided: April 4, 2024

        Before DIAZ, Chief Judge, and AGEE and HARRIS, Circuit Judges.
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        Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

        ARGUED: Patrick L. Bryant, OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER,
        Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellant. Joseph Attias, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES
        ATTORNEY, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Geremy C. Kamens,
        Federal Public Defender, Cadence A. Mertz, Assistant Federal Public Defender,
        Alexandria, Virginia, Julie K. Linnen, Assistant Federal Public Defender, OFFICE OF
        THE FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellant. Jessica D. Aber,
        United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Richmond,
        Virginia, for Appellee. Khaled Alrabe, Ann Garcia, NATIONAL IMMIGRATION
        PROJECT OF THE LAWYERS GUILD, Washington, D.C.; Charles Roth, NATIONAL
        IMMIGRANT JUSTICE CENTER, Chicago, Illinois, for Amici Legal Service Providers
        and Immigrant Rights Organizations. Philip L. Torrey, Rachel Landry, Crimmigration
        Clinic, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL, Cambridge, Massachusetts, for Amicus Dr. S.
        Deborah Kang. Michele Akemi McKenzie, MCKENZIE SCOTT PC, San Diego,
        California, for Amici Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Human Rights, First, and
        Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. Lourdes Rosado, President and General Counsel,
        Andrew Case, LATINOJUSTICE PRLDEF, New York, New York; Max S. Wolson,
        Washington, D.C., Nicholas David Espiritu, NATIONAL IMMIGRATION LAW
        CENTER, Los Angeles, California, for Amici Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Justice
        Strategies, Latino Justice PRLDEF, Legal Aid Justice Center, Massachusetts Law Reform
        Institute, and National Immigration Law Center. Amanda Valerio, Washington, D.C.,
        Alexia D. Korberg, Melina Meneguin Layerenza, Patrick McCusker, PAUL, WEISS,
        RIFKIND, WHARTON & GARRISON LLP, New York, New York, for Amici
        Immigration Scholars. Yaman Salahi, EDELSON PC, San Francisco, California, for
        Amici The Center for Immigration Law and Policy, The Aoki Center for Critical Race and
        Nation Studies, The Southern Poverty Law Center, and Professor Eric Fish.

        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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        PER CURIAM:

                 Claudio Alvarez Rodriguez was convicted of illegally reentering the United States

        after a previous removal in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326. He moved to dismiss his

        indictment, arguing that § 1326 is unconstitutional because it was enacted with a racially

        discriminatory purpose. According to Rodriguez, a predecessor illegal-reentry statute from

        1929 was based on racial animus, and that same animus carried over to § 1326, enacted

        almost 25 years later as part of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The district court

        denied Rodriguez’s motion to dismiss, finding that § 1326 is “not unconstitutional based

        on an impermissible motive in its . . . origins or its provenance.” J.A. 1134.

                 In United States v. Sanchez-Garcia, No. 22-4072 (4th Cir. Apr. 4, 2024), we

        sustained the constitutionality of § 1326 against the same argument raised by Rodriguez.

        Consistent with our holding in Sanchez-Garcia, we affirm the judgment of the district

        court.

                                                                                         AFFIRMED

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