United States Ninth Circuit

Imposition of sentence on defendant for harboring and concealing illegal aliens for financial gain is affirmed, where: 1) the district court properly applied an enhancement for harboring unaccompanied minor aliens, as, given the particular circumstances of the smuggling ring and defendant's role within it, it was reasonably foreseeable to the defendant that unaccompanied minors would be present; and 2) the district court did not clearly err in finding that this smuggling organization detained aliens both in connection with a demand for payment and through coercion or threat, and in finding that such detention was reasonably foreseeable to the defendant.

Appellate Information

• Decided 11/21/2014
• Published 11/21/2014

Judges

• Murguia

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel