Undocumented Immigrant Who Lost $49K Wins Appeal!

CNN reports that an undocumented immigrant dishwasher who lost $49,000 to the U.S. government as he tried to take it home to Guatemala will get some of the money back. Pedro Zapeta managed to save $59,000 while working as a dishwasher for 11 years. Zapeta was carrying $59,000 in cash when he was stopped at a security checkpoint at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in 2005. He told authorities he was returning home to Guatemala with the money he had saved working illegally as a dishwasher over 11 years. But federal law requires that anyone leaving or entering the country with $10,000 or more must declare it. Because Zapeta had not done so, he was detained, and his money was seized. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled in an unpublished ruling that the district court applied an incorrect standard in determining the amount to be forfeited and ordered a hearing to set a new fine.

Zepeta returned to Guatemala this year under the threat of deportation, but his lawyers continued to argue that the fine was excessive

KJ