United States v. Margarita Acosta De Evans

Margarita Acosta de Evans appeals from her conviction of having harbored an unauthorized alien, a violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324 (a)(3). We affirm.

Background

On October 18, 1974, Border Patrol agents went to de Evans’ apartment on a tip that unauthorized aliens were present there. They found and arrested four aliens who admitted that they were not legally admitted to the country. These four asserted that they had come to de Evans’ apartment by chance and were only there en passant. While the agents were questioning these aliens, Imelda Felix-Arroyo returned to the apartment from a shopping trip and was also arrested. Imelda was a relative of de Evans. She had met de Evans previously in Tijuana and had discussed with her the difficulty of getting immigration papers. She entered this country illegally, contacted de Evans, and had been living at the apartment for two months at the time of the arrests. De Evans knew that Imelda was illegally in the country.

At trial, de Evans was found guilty of harboring Imelda in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324 (a)(3). She was acquitted of counts charging similar violations with regard to the other aliens, as well as a count charging her…