United States v. Jose Guadalupe Mendez-Casillas

Jose Mendez-Casillas, a citizen of Mexico, stands convicted of having illegally reentered the United States following deportation, pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . He appeals his conviction on the ground that a clerical error rendered the warrant accompanying his prior deportation defective. Mendez Casillas therefore contends that he was never previously arrested or deported, as required for the government to prove a § 1326 offense. We reject these arguments and affirm his conviction.

I.

In January 1992, Mendez-Casillas, acting under the alias of Jesus Ramirez-Salinas, was arrested and convicted of two counts of delivering cocaine in Olympia, Washington. After the completion of a 36-month sentence, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) initiated deportation proceedings against Mendez-Casillas. An Immigration Judge (“IJ”) found him deportable based on his prior drug convictions. Mendez-Casillas waived his right to appeal the IJ’s ruling, resulting in his deportation from the country on February 12,1994.

Significantly, although Mendez-Casillas was sent back to Mexico, his warrant of deportation was unsigned by the INS district director. He then reentered the U.S.…