United States v. Gustavo Reyes-Ceja

We address whether the Sentencing Guidelines enhancement for being under a criminal justice sentence may be applied to a deportee “found in” the United States in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 while he was imprisoned.

I. Facts.

Gustavo Reyes-Ceja, an alien, has repeatedly entered the United States, committed crimes, been deported, and surreptitiously entered again. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and assault with a firearm, deported after serving time, returned surreptitiously, convicted of committing a lewd act upon a child, deported after serving time, returned surreptitiously, convicted of petty theft, deported, returned surreptitiously; was deported again, returned again, and was convicted of grand theft. He began serving a 32-month sentence for the grand theft conviction in 2007. He was still serving that sentence about two years later when the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) became aware that he was once again in the United States.

Reyes-Ceja pleaded guilty in federal court, pursuant to a plea agreement, to an information charging that he was “found in” the United States on or about November 25, 2009, after he had been previously…