Kardoh

I. Background

Kardoh became the subject of an investigation by Depart- ment of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) in July 2004. At that time, Kardoh was residing unlawfully in the U.S. on an expired tourist visa. ICE received information that he was seeking to acquire immigra- tion documents. A few months later, he was introduced to an undercover ICE agent posing as a corrupt immigration offi- cial. Over the next fourteen months, on multiple occasions, Kardoh expressed to the undercover agent his desire to pur- chase alien registration cards to benefit himself and others. In separate transactions, Kardoh purchased from the agent a card with his name for $12,500 and a card for another Syrian national also living in the U.S. unlawfully on an expired tour- ist visa for $15,000.

Kardoh’s last meeting with the undercover agent resulted in the transaction which is the subject of this appeal. It was described in a declaration by the undercover agent as follows: KARDOH v. UNITED STATES 8647 On December 12, 2005, during my last meeting with Kardoh in my vehicle parked at the terminus of Clay Street in San Francisco, California, I provided…