Section 1327 - Aiding or assisting certain aliens to enter

1 Analyses of this statute by attorneys

  1. Arizona on verge of increasing jail time for migrants

    University of Denver Sturm College of LawMarch 22, 2016

    By referencing specific criminal sections of the U.S. Code (all of which are codified as part of the INA), the text actually seems to affect only people who have actually violated those provisions. It affects, in other words, people who have violated one of the five federal immigration crimes explicitly listed in Arizona Statute 3-701(D)(21): unlawfully bringing migrants into the United States, 8 U.S.C. § 1323, INA § 273; unlawfully bringing in and harboring migrants, 8 U.S.C. § 1324, INA § 274; illegal entry, 8 U.S.C. § 1325, INA § 275; illegal reentry, 8 U.S.C. § 1326, INA § 276; assisting certain inadmissible migrants in unlawfully entering the United States, 8 U.S.C. § 1327, INA § 277. It does not, however, affect people who simply overstayed a non-immigrant visa or engaged in some other violation of civil immigration law without more.Importantly, the bill is silent as to how a judge or, presumably, a jury serving as a trier of fact figures out whether a particular person has violated those provisions. By requiring a judge or jury to “determine that the aggravating factor” listed in Arizona Statute 13-701(D)(21) applies, S.B. 1377 effectively puts the criminal proceeding’s trier of fact in the position of gauging whether a person has violated a federal immigration crime.