## Facts

- A foreign cargo ship arrived in Miami from the Dominican Republic, its first U.S. port of entry.
- Customs and Border Protection conducted an “agricultural re-boarding” to inspect for prohibited agricultural materials and other contraband.
- Inspectors, accompanied by the ship’s captain, proceeded through crew cabins using a master key.
- The master key did not open Hilario Alfaro-Moncada’s cabin; the captain summoned Alfaro-Moncada, who unlocked and opened it.
- An inspector confirmed the cabin was Alfaro-Moncada’s, that he owned its contents, and asked to inspect the cabin.
- Inspectors found CDs/DVDs containing child pornography; Alfaro-Moncada admitted the discs were his.
- Alfaro-Moncada was charged with federal possession of child pornography and moved to suppress the discs as the product of an unlawful search.
- The district court denied suppression, the jury convicted, and the court imposed an 87-month prison sentence within the advisory Guidelines range.

## Issues

1. Whether the Fourth Amendment permits Customs and Border Protection to conduct a suspicionless border search of a crew member’s cabin on a foreign vessel at its first U.S. port of entry.
2. Whether a within-Guidelines 87-month sentence for possession of child pornography was substantively unreasonable under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a).

## Decision

- The court affirmed the denial of the motion to suppress, holding the suspicionless search of the crew cabin was a lawful routine border search.
- The court held that 19 U.S.C. § 1581(a) authorizes customs officers to search a vessel and “every part thereof,” which includes crew cabins.
- The court affirmed the 87-month sentence as substantively reasonable under deferential abuse-of-discretion review.

## Legal Principles

- Routine border searches at the border (or its functional equivalent) are reasonable under the Fourth Amendment without a warrant or individualized suspicion.
- Under 19 U.S.C. § 1581(a), customs officers may board and search a vessel entering the United States and “every part thereof,” including crew living quarters.
- Crew cabins are not categorically exempt from suspicionless border searches when a foreign vessel makes initial U.S. entry and the search is conducted as part of a routine inspection.
- On appellate review, a sentence within a properly calculated advisory Guidelines range is ordinarily expected to be reasonable; a defendant must show the sentence is substantively unreasonable in light of the § 3553(a) factors.

## Conclusion

The Eleventh Circuit held that Customs and Border Protection may, as a routine border search, inspect a crew member’s cabin on a foreign cargo vessel at its first U.S. port of entry without reasonable suspicion, and it upheld Alfaro-Moncada’s 87-month within-Guidelines sentence as substantively reasonable.


United States v. Alfaro-Moncada, 607 F.3d 720 (11th Cir. 2010)