Avondale Alien Smuggling & Harboring Defense Lawyer

Arizona is an area known for immigration issues. If you have been charged with smuggling or harboring someone undocumented or unauthorized to be in the United States, you need the help of an experienced Avondale federal crimes defense lawyer to protect your rights and mitigate the consequences wherever possible. Conviction of a federal crime like smuggling can have life-changing consequences.  

When you work with Suzuki Law Group, you benefit from the collective experience of the team. All of our members have held positions as prosecutors, and our founder, Richard Suzuki, has previously worked as a federal prosecutor. This experience means our Avondale alien smuggling and harboring defense lawyer will have unique insight into the strategies and techniques used in the federal court system.  

Smuggling Defined

Charges of alien smuggling and harboring are in violation of federal law. If a court finds you guilty of these charges, it is a felony. According to 8 USC §1324, it is unlawful to do any of the following:

• Knowingly bring or attempt to bring an alien who is not approved into the United States 
• Transports or moves the above-mentioned alien
• Knowing or in reckless disregard attempts to shield or otherwise conceal the above-mentioned alien from detection
• Encourages or induces an alien to come to the United States outside of approved pathways
• Engage in conspiracy to commit any of the above acts
• Aid or abet the commission of any of the above acts

Some additional charges you may be facing regarding smuggling or harboring an illegal alien may include fraudulent marriages or hiring an alien. While this is a federal crime, these behaviors are also illegal in the state of Arizona. If you are suspected of these crimes, contacting a criminal defense attorney in Avondale immediately is likely in your best interest. 

Understanding Avondale Smuggling

Smuggling is essentially the act of bringing someone across the national border in a way that bypasses the typically approved channels and approval from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This may include behavior that shelters the person from being discovered by law enforcement. The biggest common thread to this is that the prosecution needs to establish your knowing involvement or reckless disregard for the person’s immigration status and intent to hide or conceal them from being discovered by authorities. 

Aggravating Factors to Avondale Alien Smuggling

When you are facing charges for alien smuggling, the federal prosecutor can add charges and increase the sentence in many ways. These aggravated charges can happen based on things that occurred during the commission of the crime and, sometimes, the intent of the crime. For example:

• Facilitating an alien crossing the border for profit
• Smuggling that results in bodily injury or the risk of death 
• Smuggling that results in the death of another person 

Each of these can be added to each count of smuggling for which you are charged. Even if someone was injured accidentally while you were facilitating the act, you could be facing additional charges. You may benefit by getting ahead of any concerns regarding additional charges and speaking about them with your Avondale Alien smuggling & harboring defense lawyer.

Penalties in an Avondale Alien Smuggling Case

We know that smuggling, transporting, or harboring an illegal alien is both a state and federal crime. Many people wonder what the penalties are. They can vary from a misdemeanor for transporting one person to a felony based on the number of people transported or if someone was harmed or killed in the process. Some of the more common ones are:

• Smuggling an illegal alien into the United States-10 years in prison
• Transporting or harboring someone for profit- 10 years in prison 
• Transporting or harboring not for profit-5 years in prison 
• Smuggling, transporting, or harboring that results in bodily injury or risk of death- 20 years in prison
• Death of another during any of the above acts- Life sentence 

Arizona has been one of the top five districts in the country for smuggling offenses in recent years. The United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) shares quick facts on alien smuggling offenses, showing Arizona with 462 offenses and ranking third in the country. The USSC also shows that 87% of offenders were sentenced to prison with an average length of 13 months.

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Defenses for Alien Smuggling Charges in Avondale

There are many go-to defense strategies that our alien smuggling and harboring defense lawyer in Avondale may consider for a case. Some methods are tried and true for many types of criminal defense, and some may be specific to smuggling charges. At Suzuki Law Offices, we will meticulously comb through the evidence before us to determine weaknesses in the prosecutor’s case and determine the best defense strategy.

Challenging Probable Cause

Challenging probable cause for the stop or search that started the case opens the door to having much of the case questioned from the beginning. This may lead to suppressing evidence in the prosecution’s case. In some situations, it can be grounds for the case to be dropped. 

Challenging Conduct

If our attorney decides to challenge conduct, this may refer to a couple of situations. First, it may be due to a violation of your rights in the initial stages of the case. Questioning the conduct of law enforcement may also raise doubts regarding how evidence was collected, or the chain of custody was maintained. 

Discrediting Witnesses

In some cases, the prosecutor may be relying heavily on a couple of witnesses to help them build the case. Our Avondale alien smuggling and harboring defense attorney may choose to target the reputation or credibility of the witnesses. It is not uncommon to suggest that a witness may only be providing information for a reduction of their own charges, thus giving the incentive to lie. 

Challenging Your Knowledge

In cases like smuggling, there is no case if the prosecutor cannot show that you knew the immigration status of the person or that you showed reckless disregard for the immigration status. Proving that you knowingly engaged in the behavior can be difficult. For this reason, challenging the evidence against you that you knew the immigration status of the person is a common defense for cases like this. 

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Call an Avondale Alien Smuggling Defense Attorney Today

Alien smuggling charges are a big deal. Depending on the specifics of the case and whether they are federal or state-level charges, you could be looking at life-altering consequences and decades in prison. Retaining an alien smuggling and harboring defense attorney in Avondale can offer you the best chance at getting your charges or sentence reduced or dropped. 

At Suzuki Law Offices, we understand the stakes when you find yourself in this situation. These cases can become complicated very quickly, even if you have nothing to hide. Reach out to us today to schedule a free case consultation and determine what legal resources and services we can provide.

Call or text 602-682-5270 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form