Opinion
CRIMINAL ACTION 4:22-cr-00007-LMM-WEJ-1
07-13-2022
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, v. IVAN GREGORIO RAMIREZ-MENDOZA, Defendant.
ORDER
LEIGH MARTIN MAY, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE.
This matter is before the Court on the Magistrate Judge's Non-Final Report and Recommendation, Dkt. No. [28], in which the Magistrate Judge recommended that Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Indictment for Violation of Equal Protection, Dkt. No. [20], be denied. Defendant filed an objection to the Report and Recommendation. Dkt. No. [34].
In his motion, Defendant argued that this Court should follow the holding of United States v. Carrillo-Lopez, 555 F.Supp.3d 996 (D. Nev. 2021), and dismiss the indictment on grounds that the statute under which he was charged, 8 U.S.C. § 1326, was enacted with a discriminatory purpose, has a disparate impact upon the Latino population and people of Mexican descent, and therefore violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Dkt. No. [20]. In the Report and Recommendation, the Magistrate Judge noted that Carrillo-Lopez had been uniformly rejected in at least eighteen opinions and therefore recommended that the Court decline to follow Carrillo-Lopez in favor of the opinions of the eighteen courts that have found that § 1326 does not violate the Equal Protection Clause. Dkt. No. [28] at 1-2. In his objection, Defendant concedes that Carrillo-Lopez is the only opinion in which a court has dismissed an indictment on grounds that § 1326 violates the Equal Protection Clause, but he nevertheless urges the Court to follow its holding. Dkt. No. [34] at 2.
Since the Magistrate Judge entered the Report and Recommendation, at least five more courts have denied similar motions to dismiss indictment. See, e.g., United States v. Guadalupe, No. 2:18-cr-00240-TLN, 2022 WL 2276705 (E.D. Cal. June 23, 2022); United States v. Santos-Reynoso, No. 21-CR-268-LTS, 2022 WL 2274470 (S.D.N.Y. June 23, 2022); United States v. Crespo-Castelan, No. 22 Cr. 009 (JFK), 2022 WL 2237574 (S.D.N.Y. June 22, 2022); United States v. Salas-Silva, No. 3:20-cr-00054-RCJ-CLB, 2022 WL 2119098 (D. Nev. June 13, 2022); United States v. Viveros-Chavez, Case No. 21 CR 665, 2022 WL 2116598 (N.D. Ill. June 13, 2022). The Court has reviewed these and myriad other opinions in which courts have carefully reviewed the reasoning underpinning Carrillo-Lopez and declined to follow it, and it has heard no argument from Defendant as to why it should eschew these well-reasoned decisions in favor of the outlier opinion upon which he relies.
Therefore, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1) and Rule 59 of the Federal
Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Court has reviewed the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation de novo and finds no error. Accordingly, the Court ADOPTS the Magistrate Judge's Non-Final Report and Recommendation, Dkt. No. [28], as its opinion, and DENIES the Motion to Dismiss Indictment for Violation of Equal Protection, Dkt. No. [20].
The Magistrate Judge has also entered a Non-Final Report and Recommendation, Dkt. No. [26], on Defendant's Motion to Suppress Statements, Dkt. No. [19]. The undersigned will hold the motion to suppress statements in abeyance until the case has been certified ready for trial.
IT IS SO ORDERED.