United States v. Leonardo Portillo-Vega
Opinion
Opinion
MEMORANDUM
Leonardo Portillo-Vega appeals his conviction and sentence under 8 U.S.C. § 1326 for illegal reentry after deportation.
Portillo-Vega contends that his conviction should be vacated and the indictment against him dismissed because his identity was the fruit of an illegal arrest by state authorities. Assuming — without deciding — that Portillo-Vega was illegally arrested and that he has not waived his illegal-arrest claim by entering an unconditional guilty plea, his argument is foreclosed by Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit precedent. I.N.S. v. Lopez-Mendoza, 468 U.S. 1032, 1039 , 104 S.Ct. 3479 , 82 L.Ed.2d 778 (1984) (“The ‘body' or identity of a defendant or respondent in a criminal or civil proceeding is never itself suppressible as a fruit of an unlawful arrest, even if it is conceded that an unlawful arrest, search, or interrogation occurred."); United States v. Guzman-Bruno, 27 F.3d 420, 421-22 (9th Cir.1994) (holding, within the context of a prosecution under 8 U.S.C. § 1326 , that neither defendant’s “identity nor the records of his previous convictions and deportations could be suppressed as a result of the illegal arrest”).