Boat Full of Aliens Found in Florida

Eleven people face deportation and two accused smugglers may face jail time Tuesday after North Miami police investigated a possible smuggling case.^[1] When the North Miami police found people, described as Asian, were discovered hiding in a boat.^[2]

A North Miami marine patrol officer noticed a suspicious boat just off Haulover Beach, searched it and found people hiding on board. He said he figured that when he asked them to dock, he would possibly find some illegal fish.^[3] However, he said he found 11 illegal aliens on board. Authorities said 10 of the 11 people appeared to be from an Eastern Asia, the 11th person was from Guyana.^[4]

The marine patrol officer said the aliens were hiding at the front of the boat. He said when he opened up the cabin they were all crammed inside.^[5] Three men were taken into custody to face smuggling charges.^[6]

Immigration and customs enforcement took over the case. They said, most likely, the 11 illegal aliens will be sent back to their home countries.^[7]

Alien smuggling is very serious offense; it makes it a criminal act for anyone, knowing that a person is an alien, to bring that person to the United States in any manner whatsoever at a place other than a designated port of entry, regardless of whether the alien has received official authorization to enter the United States.^[8] Violation of the statute can be punishable by a fine, imprisonment for up to 5 years, or both.^[9]

Alien Concealment.^[10]
The government must prove that an 1) alien; was 2) not lawfully in this country; 3) the defendant knew or was in reckless disregard of the illegal alien; and 4) the defendants conduct facilitated the concealment of the alien for the purposes of avoiding the authorities.^[11]These crimes can be punishable by a fine, depending on the offense, up to 20 years in prison for each alien.^[12] The statute describes aggravating factors capable of raising the statutory maximum penalty; these must be submitted as additional elements if charged in the indictment. They include whether the offense was done for the purpose of personal gain or commercial advantage,^[13]whether the defendant caused serious bodily injury,^[14] or whether a death resulted.^[15]

Federal criminal defense attorney Douglas McNabb has previously discussed the crime of smuggling in his transnational crimes blog; these discussions can be found here.

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^[1] NBC Staff, N. Miami Police Investigate Possible Smuggling, NBC6.net (South Florida), August 7, 2007, available at http://www.nbc6.net/news/13840327/detail.html (last visited August 8, 2007).
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id,
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] Id.
^[8] 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(i); 8 U.S.C. § 1342(a)(1)(A)(v)(I) criminalizes engaging in any conspiracy to do so.
^[9] Id.
^[10] 8 U.S.C §1324(a)(1)(A)(iii)
^[11] Id.
^[12] 8 U.S.C §1324(a)(1)(B)(i)
^[13] Id.
^[14] 8 U.S.C §1324(a)(1)(B)(iii)
^[15] 8 U.S.C §1324(a)(1)(B)(iv)