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.
Demonstrating the ability to willingly break a whole host of laws is not a state of existance. It is a demonstration of character. That is what this man did. From coming here, to staying here to working here to trying to board an airplane to trying to do so with cash above allowed limits.
Yet you ignore all these breaches? You said yourself the best explanation why he didn't "write that number on a piece of paper"......right? Fear of what would happen right? Why was he fearful? Because he knew he was breaking laws and he knew that he gained that money thru illegal means. You know it too, you just want to ignore that part so you can snap off about siezures.
He got that money siezed because he didn't follow the rules. Pick one, there are so many he did not follow that all fit togethr leading to this event. But hey, you can defend him all you want to by ignoring the realities of this individual case. Go for it.
Yes, he earned the money legally. He went to a business, performed a service, and was paid for it.
Yes, I am saying that being here illegally does NOT mean that honest work is "illegal". The employer is not allowed to hire an illegal, of course, but that is a crime of the employer, not the employee.
Someone want to check the law, to see if it is illegal for a person here illegally to HAVE a job? I believe you'll find that the law only says it's illegal to EMPLOY an illegal immigrant, not that it's illegal for an illegal immigrant to GET a job.
It's a distinction with a difference.
Being Illegal had everything to do with him not reporting it. You said that yourself! Can you see yet that you cannot seperate out, and ignore, the fact he was an illegal alien and what that means to the overall picture?
I call BS
What is that... slang for illegal narcotics trafficker?
"slang for illegal narcotics.."
With that much cash the cops assumed he was. Probably did save that much by not paying ss taxes, medicare taxes, etc.
Free food at the restaurants. Kinda funny that after 11 years he knew no english.
I oppose the law that seizes a person's property without a criminal charge. I'm allowed to oppose laws, and to argue for their repeal, which is what I am doing here.
I don't think I've actually said that we have to give the guy's money back. I would, but I'm arguing about the law.
A person who steals a loaf of bread to feed his family is still a thief, but of a different character. And in that case a person causing real harm.
Suppose you were stranded on a mountain in a blizzard, and you came upon a cabin. Would you break in, or would you stay outside and die because breaking and entering is a crime? If you did break in, would you not eat the food in the cabin?
Would that mean you are a person of bad character? This man saw no harm in what he did. He didn't hurt anybody coming here. He broke no laws of harm to anybody while he was here. He didn't force someone out of a job, or make people pay him. He lived under the radar, probably obeying every law he could obey as an illegal immigrant. When he had earned the money he needed, he was leaving. He was afraid of getting arrested, so he didn't say he had $59,000. IF he had had $10,000, there'd be no problem. much to the horror of people posting here, apparently, who think giving him the $10,000 was a sin.
But because he didn't write "59,000" on a form, we just took $49,000 from him administratively.
And yes, I do find that excessive, and I don't care that he was an illegal, SIMPLY being here illegally does not to me rise to the level of a crime I want to make him pay $49,000 for.
BTW, are you saying he committed a crime simply by boarding a plane? So far as I can tell, guatamalans ARE allowed to fly on airplanes. He was in our country illegally, NOT the planet illegally.
And didn't you hesitate just a bit when you had to write "trying to do so with cash above allowed limits"? Doesn't that bother you the least bit, that there is an "allowed limit" of cash you can carry without having to tell the federal government about it?
I am not an attorney, so I'm in no position to argue the point.
However, if I understand you correctly, had he declared the total amount, he could have continued on his merry way with impunity, illegal alien or no, and the judge could not have ruled against him.
That militates the original fear about being an illegal, and is a very useful point for all future illegal immigrants to declare any amount that they are leaving the country with.
I have an uneasy feeling that not having to prove where the money came from could be an obstacle.
Where do you draw the line? $66,000? $660,000 (he was a very efficient dishwasher!)? $6,600,000?
See the problem?
I despise this type of illegal immigration but I don't believe in the Federal government stealing %50,000 from this Mayan dishwasher. He's straight out of the jungle
If he did do that for 11 years it should be easy to show that huh? Doing so would b admitting to further crimes though huh? See how being an illegal leads from bad to worse?
He forcefully took 'possesion' of residency here in this country against our laws without from our consent. Either you stand fim against that or you make appologies and excuses for such an action. You made your choice with few words. I hope you are happy with your position.
I have a friend who is Japanese and came to visit back in '83. He didn't correctly declare how much he was brining in and got a hefty fine and was detained overnight.
He speaks almost perfect English. His wife sent more cah with him tan he thogut (that was his story and he's stuck to it) but TS.
What don't these people understand about the rules?
Would that mean you are a person of bad character? This man saw no harm in what he did.
It's impossible not to view this as sophistry.
If I broke into a cabin and ate someone's food, I would not claim ignorance, and refuse to pay for the food and the structural damage once I returned to my normal life.
Apples and oranges...
Some people rob you with a six-gun; some people rob you with a fountain pen.
When lying, that is claiming his allowed to work here legally when he is not, how can you say he earned the money legally? You are becoming quite hilarious.
You have to be here legally in order to work here legally. You really don't see that do you? Mabe you just don't want to see that.
How can you be honest when you are here illegally? You make less sense the more you type.
You are too funny, if you really think it is lawful for illegals to work here, while illegal for employers to hire them, then I would have to offer that you are so dense that Saddam might have tried to make a bomb out of you!
What about the taxes he owed on those earnings as a dishwasher ? Gotta subtract that too. What about IRS penalties for failure to file and pay his taxes ? And interest on those penalties ?
Sounds like there would be very little of that $49K left.
This is an important point, and is similar to the argument used against capital punishment, that it might kill an innocent man.
If the law is unjust, immoral or illegal, change the law.
If the law is unjustly applied, correct the injustice.
If the law is applied equally to all, and the system chooses to maintain it on the books, there is no moral, ethical or legal bar to its continuity.
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