Posted on 01/31/2007 1:12:31 PM PST by primeval patriot
U.S. District Judge James Cohn has forced a Guatemalan dishwasher to surrender nearly all his life savings to the government because he didn't sign a declaration form before trying to board an airplane.
Pedro Zapeta of Stuart had $59,000 in his bag when Customs agents searched it and confiscated the money at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Sept. 18, 2005. Mr. Zapeta, a 39-year-old Mayan whose native language is Quiche, has said that he was unaware of the requirement to disclose amounts greater than $10,000. On Monday, Judge Cohn ruled that the $10,000 was all that Mr. Zapeta could keep. He must forfeit the rest - $49,000. Mr. Zapeta has no real option for appealing, and is likely to be deported soon.
"It is unconscionable for the government to take that money," said Robert Gershman, Mr. Zapeta's attorney. "They do it because they can. That's the only reason. It's just not right. He could have left with all $59,000 if he had signed the form."
In his six-page ruling, Judge Cohn said that the government had dropped earlier claims that the cash was drug money, and that prosecutors were accusing Mr. Zapeta of a civil currency violation, not a criminal offense. Mr. Gershman argued that Mr. Zapeta should pay a fine of no more than $5,000 for being negligent; he never had flown on a plane. "There is no rule of thumb in these cases," the lawyer said. "They shouldn't just rubber-stamp them with a decision like this."
Mr. Zapeta entered the country illegally 11 years ago and worked as a dishwasher for numerous Stuart restaurants, often holding two jobs at a time for little more than minimum wage. He intended to start a business with relatives upon returning to Guatemala. Mr. Gershman believes that the dishwasher's immigration and social status worked against him: "If Mr. Zapeta were a professional man, or more intellectual, or more mainstream, there's no question that he would not have been treated this way."
This is the guest worker President Bush has in mind when he proposes immigration reform. Pedro Zapeta didn't come to stay. He came to make investment money he can't make back home. Having done so, he was ready to deport himself. Judge Cohn had a chance to make sense out of this bureaucratic bungling. Instead, he displayed little logic and even less compassion.
Careful. You don't want to stir up the FR "lawandorder" swat teams : )
You are right, it was "reviewed", but he didn't have a trial to prove his guilt. Seizures do go through judicial review, but at the review you don't get to argue the crime, because it's not a trial.
I did misspeak though saying there was no judicial review.
IF he was a smart illegal immigrant, he would have simply wired the money home.
What? Even an illegal alien dishwasher gets more than minimum wage?????
I would think that the gubbmint needs to bust Stuart restaurants!!!!!!!!!
How long does an illegal alien dishwasher have to work to save $59,000? Very suspicious.
It is the frugality of these people that sets off the BS meter. He worked two jobs for minimum wage to save up this amount of money, and he flies home?
No, if Mr Zapeta had learned to read and understand English in his 11 years here illegally he wouldn't have this problem.
And of course, they didn't take his money because he was illegal, they took his money because he didn't declare it on his forms.
Of course, being illegal, he was probably worried about what would happen if he declared it.
We are usually happy with this, as it's an easy way to get drug dealer money without the hassle of a trial. And if you declare the money, it causes you all sorts of trouble, which is why people don't travel with more than $10,000.
His family was not here.
Well, walking back was not an option. at least while carrying the money.
I do every day. You do too.
Okay, we can play this. Bill him 5K a year for living in the USA as the price of having opportunity, living in relative freedom, freedom from invasion by hostile power (actually he was the invader but we'll leave that alone), and economic stability.
You also don't consider that he might have used social services like mass transit (subsidized by US taxpayers), ER services (subsidized) and maybe others as well.
5000 X 11 years .... 55,000 dollars. Great, he only owes us 6000 more
If he worked hard for years in this country he should be familiar with our laws and customs.
That makes sense. Maybe that's exactly why he was leaving.
On the other hand, he could have stuck it out another 11 years and retired at 50... back home.
Much more than just invincible ignorance:
"The imputability or responsibility for an action can be diminished or nullified by ignorance, duress, fear, and other psychological or social factors." CCC 1746
I'm doing fine; thanks.
By the way, thanks for your service
That's like "perfectly possible" (?!) that he lived 11 years, room and board, never mind health care or anything else on $53 a month?
Didn't I see you in the bar scene in the original Star Wars movie??
You are not the first to wonder about that. It amazes people that hard-working illegals can make that much money and save it. They can, and they do. We take too many wants for "needs", and don't understand how little it can really cost to survive.
If you live in a warm climate, you can survive sleeping outside, and don't need any real property, just some place to put down your head at night. Or you can live in a small place with others, a person doesn't need a lot of space to move around when they are working two jobs.
You can eat really cheap, without killing yourself. Maybe as a dishwasher he got free food at the end of the evening from the leftovers. Maybe he didn't have a TV, or go to the movies. You can buy a deck of cards and play cards with your buddies, you can go to a bar once a week and spend a couple of bucks for a beer and nurse it and here some music.
Maybe he played soccer with the guys on weekends when he wasn't working.
People are always amazed at stories like this, old people die, and they were cleaning ladies, or janitors, and they leave a million bucks to a charity. I think I just read a story like that in the last two weeks.
Of course, if that janitor had decided to take his million to the Bahamas, the government might have taken it from him.
The fact is americans wouldn't support laws like this if we didn't assume we were taking money from drug dealers. The administrative seizures save us the time and effort of having to prove in court that they are drug dealers.
The drug-runners won't sign the declarations, because it becomes a red flag, they are fingerprinted, investigated, detained, and will be watched carefully every time they fly. So it becomes a "cost of doing business" that sometimes the get their money seized.
Then we catch guys like this (assuming he wasn't a drug dealer). If he was really a legal citizen, he'd get the same treatment, EXCEPT the outcry would be so great that we'd give the money back simply to keep people from putting 2 and 2 together and fighting the law.
But because he is an illegal, we can keep his money, deport him, and nobody will be the wiser. Except his family who has been without his company for 11 years, and now has had the rest of their life's dreams destroyed because he didn't write the number "59,000" on a line on a piece of paper.
BTW, I think it's a travesty we allowed him in to begin with. He should have stayed at home with his family. Setting up a system where guys like this are tempted to leave their families without a father for years on end "for their benefit" should be a crime. But if we are going to let him get away with living here and working for 11 years, we shouldn't pull the rug out from under him at the last second, just because we all want to end illegal immigration.
If we had caught him 6 years ago, and they wrote a story about how he was just "trying to make enough money to feed his family", I'd kick his butt out anyway. But to NOT arrest him, only to take his money at the end -- you know, that sounds like the plot to at least one movie I've seen.
Dude, if he worked for minimum wage and filed a 1040EZ, under the EITC rules, he would be eligible for a payment -- the govenment would owe him.
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