United States v. Richard D. Bunker

A jury convicted Bunker upon six counts of knowingly bringing into the United States aliens who were not lawfully entitled to reside here. ( 8 U.S.C. § 1324 (a)(1).) Bunker argues that: (1) the indictment charging him was facially defective because it did not allege his knowledge of the aliens’ illegal status; (2) the evidence against him was insufficient to prove his knowledge; and (3) the district court’s construction of the statute under which he was charged is incorrect. We reject all of his contentions.

Bunker was the president of a business in Salt Lake City employing 40 to 50 people, and the owner of a ranch near Gandy, Utah. He had previously employed Mexican citizens on his ranch. Bunker agreed to take a painter, Fidel Alvarez-Bae-za (“Alvarez”), Alvarez’s wife, three children and step-daughter from their home in Imuris, Sonora, to live at his ranch or his home in Salt Lake City. The Alvarez family were all Mexican citizens who had only border crossing identification cards (Form 1-186, see 8 C.F.R. § 212.1 (c)), which allowed them to stay in the United States for 72 hours and limited them to an area within 25 miles of the United States-Mexican border. About…