United States v. Michael Barragan-Martinez

We reverse this conviction for conspiring to transport and transporting aliens, because the arrest of the defendant and his subsequent identification by one of the illegally transported aliens were the products of an illegal stop by immigration agents. See Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, 413 U.S. 266 , 93 S.Ct. 2535 , 37 L.Ed.2d 596 (1973).

The officials had probable cause to stop a truck loaded with aliens, the license number of which had been given them by a reliable informer, but the officers had no more than a suspicion that the green Ford the defendant was driving was connected with the ongoing smuggling operation which they were investigating. The officers nonetheless stopped the defendant and detained him long enough for one of the smuggled aliens to identify him as a participant in the enterprise.

We have examined every fact testified to in court, and, putting aside the arguments of government counsel on the scope of “common knowledge” and facts outside the record, we have concluded that if the government had a constitutional basis for stopping the defendant’s automobile, that basis was never explained by the evidence produced in court.

The government's…