United States of America v. Salmen Hernandez-Ayala

Burlington, VT - Mexican Man Sentenced for Alien Smuggling



Salmen Hernandez-Ayala, 48, a citizen of Mexico, was sentenced on September 10, 2018 in United States District Court in Burlington for transporting three illegal aliens within the United States. United States District Judge Christina Reiss sentenced Hernandez-Ayala to time served. Hernandez-Ayala has been in custody since his arrest on May 17, 2018.



According to court records, Hernandez-Ayala hired a taxi in New York City and traveled in the taxi to a location near the United States / Canada border, where he picked up the three aliens and traveled south away from the border. Shortly after 3:00 a.m. on May 17, 2018, United States Border Patrol agents stopped the taxi on U.S. Route 5 in Derby, Vermont and determined that Hernandez-Ayala, who was in the front passenger seat, and the three aliens in the rear seat were illegally present in the United States.



The three aliens were charged, convicted, and sentenced as follows:



Eliezer Esteban Gamez-Saban, 21, a citizen of Guatemala, was charged with illegal reentry into the United States after having previously been removed from the United States, a felony offense. On June 7, 2018, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced by United States District Judge Christina Reiss to time served.



Jorge Campos-Navarro, 21, a citizen of Mexico, was charged with illegal entry into the United States, a misdemeanor offense. On June 28, 2018, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced by United States Magistrate Judge John M. Conroy to time served.



Bryan Antonio Cruz-Salvador, 20, a citizen of Mexico, was charged with illegal entry into the United States, a misdemeanor offense. On June 28, 2018, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced by United States Magistrate Judge John M. Conroy to time served.



The Swanton Sector Border Patrol is responsible for securing the land border between ports of entry in Vermont as well as New Hampshire and northeastern New York. The assistance of citizens is invaluable in helping the U.S. Border Patrol accomplish their border security mission and they welcome community members to help them keep our nation’s borders safe by reporting suspicious activity at 1-800-689-3362.



For more on CBP’s mission at our nation’s ports of entry with CBP officers and along U.S. borders with Border Patrol agents, please visit the Border Security section of the CBP website.

Charge:

8:1324(a)(1)(A)(ii), (a)(1)(A)(v)(II).F BRINGING IN AND HARBORING ALIENS

(1)

§1324. Bringing in and harboring certain aliens

(a) Criminal penalties



(1)(A) Any person who—



(i) knowing that a person is an alien, brings to or attempts to bring to the United States in any manner whatsoever such person at a place other than a designated port of entry or place other than as designated by the Commissioner, regardless of whether such alien has received prior official authorization to come to, enter, or reside in the United States and regardless of any future official action which may be taken with respect to such alien;



(ii) knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, transports, or moves or attempts to transport or move such alien within the United States by means of transportation or otherwise, in furtherance of such violation of law;



(iii) knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, such alien in any place, including any building or any means of transportation;



(iv) encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to, entry, or residence is or will be in violation of law; or



(v)(I) engages in any conspiracy to commit any of the preceding acts, or



(II) aids or abets the commission of any of the preceding acts,



shall be punished as provided in subparagraph (B).



(B) A person who violates subparagraph (A) shall, for each alien in respect to whom such a violation occurs—



(i) in the case of a violation of subparagraph (A)(i) or (v)(I) or in the case of a violation of subparagraph (A)(ii), (iii), or (iv) in which the offense was done for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain, be fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both;



(ii) in the case of a violation of subparagraph (A)(ii), (iii), (iv), or (v)(II), be fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both;



(iii) in the case of a violation of subparagraph (A)(i), (ii), (iii), (iv), or (v) during and in relation to which the person causes serious bodily injury (as defined in section 1365 of title 18) to, or places in jeopardy the life of, any person, be fined under title 18, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both; and



(iv) in the case of a violation of subparagraph (A)(i), (ii), (iii), (iv), or (v) resulting in the death of any person, be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, fined under title 18, or both.



(C) It is not a violation of clauses 1 (ii) or (iii) of subparagraph (A), or of clause (iv) of subparagraph (A) except where a person encourages or induces an alien to come to or enter the United States, for a religious denomination having a bona fide nonprofit, religious organization in the United States, or the agents or officers of such denomination or organization, to encourage, invite, call, allow, or enable an alien who is present in the United States to perform the vocation of a minister or missionary for the denomination or organization in the United States as a volunteer who is not compensated as an employee, notwithstanding the provision of room, board, travel, medical assistance, and other basic living expenses, provided the minister or missionary has been a member of the denomination for at least one year.



(2) Any person who, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has not received prior official authorization to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, brings to or attempts to bring to the United States in any manner whatsoever, such alien, regardless of any official action which may later be taken with respect to such alien shall, for each alien in respect to whom a violation of this paragraph occurs—



(A) be fined in accordance with title 18 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; or



(B) in the case of—



(i) an offense committed with the intent or with reason to believe that the alien unlawfully brought into the United States will commit an offense against the United States or any State punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year,



(ii) an offense done for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain, or



(iii) an offense in which the alien is not upon arrival immediately brought and presented to an appropriate immigration officer at a designated port of entry,



be fined under title 18 and shall be imprisoned, in the case of a first or second violation of subparagraph (B)(iii), not more than 10 years, in the case of a first or second violation of subparagraph (B)(i) or (B)(ii), not less than 3 nor more than 10 years, and for any other violation, not less than 5 nor more than 15 years.



(3)(A) Any person who, during any 12-month period, knowingly hires for employment at least 10 individuals with actual knowledge that the individuals are aliens described in subparagraph (B) shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both.



(B) An alien described in this subparagraph is an alien who—



(i) is an unauthorized alien (as defined in section 1324a(h)(3) of this title), and



(ii) has been brought into the United States in violation of this subsection.



(4) In the case of a person who has brought aliens into the United States in violation of this subsection, the sentence otherwise provided for may be increased by up to 10 years if—



(A) the offense was part of an ongoing commercial organization or enterprise;



(B) aliens were transported in groups of 10 or more; and



(C)(i) aliens were transported in a manner that endangered their lives; or



(ii) the aliens presented a life-threatening health risk to people in the United States.

(b) Seizure and forfeiture

(1) In general



Any conveyance, including any vessel, vehicle, or aircraft, that has been or is being used in the commission of a violation of subsection (a) of this section, the gross proceeds of such violation, and any property traceable to such conveyance or proceeds, shall be seized and subject to forfeiture.

(2) Applicable procedures



Seizures and forfeitures under this subsection shall be governed by the provisions of chapter 46 of title 18 relating to civil forfeitures, including section 981(d) of such title, except that such duties as are imposed upon the Secretary of the Treasury under the customs laws described in that section shall be performed by such officers, agents, and other persons as may be designated for that purpose by the Attorney General.

(3) Prima facie evidence in determinations of violations



In determining whether a violation of subsection (a) of this section has occurred, any of the following shall be prima facie evidence that an alien involved in the alleged violation had not received prior official authorization to come to, enter, or reside in the United States or that such alien had come to, entered, or remained in the United States in violation of law:



(A) Records of any judicial or administrative proceeding in which that alien's status was an issue and in which it was determined that the alien had not received prior official authorization to come to, enter, or reside in the United States or that such alien had come to, entered, or remained in the United States in violation of law.



(B) Official records of the Service or of the Department of State showing that the alien had not received prior official authorization to come to, enter, or reside in the United States or that such alien had come to, entered, or remained in the United States in violation of law.



(C) Testimony, by an immigration officer having personal knowledge of the facts concerning that alien's status, that the alien had not received prior official authorization to come to, enter, or reside in the United States or that such alien had come to, entered, or remained in the United States in violation of law.

(c) Authority to arrest



No officer or person shall have authority to make any arrests for a violation of any provision of this section except officers and employees of the Service designated by the Attorney General, either individually or as a member of a class, and all other officers whose duty it is to enforce criminal laws.

(d) Admissibility of videotaped witness testimony



Notwithstanding any provision of the Federal Rules of Evidence, the videotaped (or otherwise audiovisually preserved) deposition of a witness to a violation of subsection (a) of this section who has been deported or otherwise expelled from the United States, or is otherwise unable to testify, may be admitted into evidence in an action brought for that violation if the witness was available for cross examination and the deposition otherwise complies with the Federal Rules of Evidence.

(e) Outreach program



The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of State, as appropriate, shall develop and implement an outreach program to educate the public in the United States and abroad about the penalties for bringing in and harboring aliens in violation of this section.

Time served.