United States v. Sanchez

• Decision Date: 26 August 1981
• Docket Number: 81-46-Civ-SMA.,No. 80-3374-Civ-SMA,80-3374-Civ-SMA
• Citation: 520 F. Supp. 1038
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Samuel SANCHEZ, Defendant. UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Francisco ARMENDARIS, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida

520 F. Supp. 1038

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Samuel SANCHEZ, Defendant.

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Francisco ARMENDARIS, Defendant.

Nos. 80-3374-Civ-SMA, 81-46-Civ-SMA.

United States District Court, S. D. Florida, Miami Division.

August 26, 1981.

Atlee W. Wampler, III, U. S. Atty., S. D. Fla. by Robert Rosenberg, Sp. Asst. U. S. Atty., Miami, Fla., for plaintiff.

Raul Carreras, Jr., Miami, Fla., for defendant Sanchez.

Frank H. Alvarez, Miami, Fla., for defendant Armendaris.

ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF'S MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

ARONOVITZ, District Judge.

THESE MATTERS were heard by the Court on Plaintiff's Motions for Summary Judgment. Because both of the above-styled causes present the same issues of fact and law relevant to the Motions for Summary Judgment, a consolidated hearing was held at which time the Court received oral argument from all counsel.

Both of these cases involve the imposition of a fine of $1,000 for each undocumented alien allegedly transported from Mariel Harbor, Cuba to Key West, Florida upon vessels owned or commanded by the Defendants, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1323. These voyages were made as part of the so-called "Freedom Flotilla" or "Mariel Boatlift" which occurred during April through June of 1980, in which hundreds of vessels transported over 100,000 Cuban refugees to Key West, Florida. See generally Pollgreen v. Morris, 496 F.Supp. 1042, 1047 (S.D.Fla.1980).

Upon arrival in Key West, each Defendant was served with Immigration and Naturalization Service Form I-79, Notice of Intention to Fine. Neither Defendant filed any response to the I-79 Notice with INS, nor did they otherwise defend or participate in the administrative proceedings initiated thereon. See 8 C.F.R. § 280.1 et seq. Accordingly, the District Director of the INS determined that fines should be imposed and so notified the Defendants by mail at their last known addresses. Defendant ARMENDARIS had been charged with landing 14 aliens and a fine of $14,000 was levied; Defendant SANCHEZ was charged with landing 92 aliens and assessed a fine of $92,000. When the Defendants failed to pay the fines, these actions were brought to collect the amount of the fines, plus interest and costs.

Each Defendant filed an answer to the complaints raising various matters in defense. Both Defendants have asserted, inter alia, the defense of duress and coercion; ARMENDARIS in his answer, SANCHEZ at the hearing on the Government's Motion. It is the Government's position that in reviewing the District Director's decision, the Court may only examine the administrative record to determine if the decision is supported by substantial evidence therein. Because Defendants did not participate in the administrative proceedings, no matters in defense were raised and no evidence with respect thereto was made part of the record. Therefore, the Government argues, these matters are not properly before the Court and further, Defendants are foreclosed from raising those defenses now, in the first instance.

At the outset, the Court would note that while technically these cases are civil actions, the imposition of a fine as a penalty for violation of the law can be considered "quasi-criminal" in nature. The term "quasi-criminal" is not here used to imply that the full panoply of constitutional protections attendant to a true criminal proceeding should apply in this context. United States v. Ward, 448 U.S. 242, 100 S.Ct. 2636, 2640-41, 65 L.Ed.2d 742 (1980). It is well settled that Congress may provide for the imposition of a civil fine as a penalty for violation of a statute and this Court does not question that § 1323 is such an enactment. Indeed, no party has made the assertion that § 1323 should be considered as providing a criminal penalty under the standards set forth in Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez, 372 U.S. 144, 168-69, 83 S.Ct. 554, 567-68, 9 L.Ed.2d 644 (1963). However, characterizing the sanction as civil does not alter the fact that a penalty is being imposed by the Government for violation of the law, and in these cases, a very severe penalty. The Court is hard pressed to find any other conduct which these Defendants might be accused of which could result in a fine of as much as $92,000. As such, this Court feels compelled to afford Defendants every opportunity to establish whatever defenses may exist, in law and fact, to the penalties imposed.

This view is further reinforced by the unusual factual circumstances out of which these cases arose. The Freedom Flotilla was an event unprecedented in the American experience and has, from a judicial viewpoint, confronted the justice system with a number of novel and complex questions of law and policy which do not readily lend themselves to easy answers. Many of the persons who left for Cuba intended to return with family or friends who were disenchanted with the quality of life in Cuba. This Court heard testimony adduced in Pollgreen, supra, at a preliminary injunction hearing, and thus takes judicial notice of the fact that upon arrival in Mariel Harbor, however, Cuban soldiers, backed up by gunboats of the Cuban Navy, required that other Cuban nationals be taken on board as well, often overcrowding the vessel. See Pollgreen at 1055. As to such persons, there are genuine questions as to whether or not it was possible to determine if valid documentation under applicable immigration laws had been obtained, and Cuban gunboats in fact prevented the vessels from leaving the harbor without these additional passengers. To further complicate matters, the United States Government, speaking through the office of the President, took what appeared to be conflicting positions regarding sanctioning of these activities. Pollgreen at 1047.

It is the opinion of this Court that duress and coercion would at least provide a basis for mitigation in these cases, even though not expressly so provided in the statute. Pollgreen, supra at 1055. It is a basic precept of the common law that a wrongful intent is an essential element of criminal liability, Morissette v. U. S., 342 U.S. 246, 72 S.Ct....