United States v. German Munoz-Flores

In this appeal of the denial of a motion to set aside a sentence imposing two twenty-five dollar special assessments for immigration law violations, German Munoz-Flores (“Munoz”) contends that passage of the Special Assessment on Convicted Persons ( 18 U.S.C. § 3013 (1984)) did not comply with the requirements of the origination clause of the Constitution.

We find that the constitutionality of the Special Assessment on Convicted Persons is squarely presented in this appeal. An analysis of the legislative history of the statute persuades us that the enactment of the special assessment failed to comply with the constitutionally mandated procedure. We therefore vacate that portion of the court’s sentencing order imposing special assessments.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

After pleading guilty to two counts of aiding and abetting an alien to elude examination and inspection in violation of 18 U.S. C. § 2 and 8 U.S.C. § 1325 , Munoz was sentenced to two years unsupervised probation and ordered to pay special assessments of $25 for each count, pursuant to 18 U.S. C. § 3013.

Munoz moved to correct this sentence under Fed.R.Crim.P. 35(a), asserting that the special assessments were invalid…