United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 18-3568 ___________________________ United States of America Plaintiff - Appellee v. Jeremias Sanchez-Velasco Defendant - Appellant ____________ Appeal from United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa - Cedar Rapids ____________ Submitted: December 13, 2019 Filed: April 17, 2020 ____________ Before LOKEN, GRASZ, and STRAS, Circuit Judges. ____________ LOKEN, Circuit Judge. Jeremias Sanchez-Velasco visited the Linn County, Iowa Treasurer’s Office the morning of April 27, 2018 to obtain registration and license plates for a newly acquired automobile. He submitted a Guatemalan consular card and proof of car insurance (form “SR-22”) bearing the name “Miguel M. Sanchez” to clerk Brynn Love. The name on the SR-22 did not match the name of the secondary owner listed on the Iowa Department of Transportation’s (“IDOT”) database. Love called IDOT Investigator Jason Nusbaum. After investigating, Nusbaum told Love he had notified immigration authorities the social security number on file for Sanchez-Velasco did not match his name. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) Deportation Officers Billy Walker and Bryce Callison came to the Treasurer’s Office, interviewed Sanchez-Velasco, and arrested him when he admitted to being unlawfully present in the United States. The officers drove Sanchez-Velasco to an ICE facility, where Officer Callison asked Sanchez-Velasco immigration-related questions to prepare a file that would be sent to the Immigration Court for removal proceedings. A grand jury indicted Sanchez-Velasco for two offenses he committed in 2014, which came to light after his arrest for the immigration violation: unlawfully using a social security card to complete a Form I-9 in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a), and misusing a social security number in completing state and federal tax forms in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 408(a)(7)(B). After the district court1 denied his motion to suppress statements made during the ICE officer interviews, Sanchez-Velasco conditionally pleaded guilty to misusing a social security number. The district court dismissed the Form I-9 charge and sentenced him to the 195 days he had served in prison and three years of supervised release. Sanchez-Velasco appeals, arguing his statements to Walker and Callison should have been suppressed because he was responding to custodial interrogation without receiving constitutionally mandated Miranda warnings. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444 (1966). Reviewing the legal issues of custody and interrogation de novo and the underlying factual findings for clear error, we affirm. United States v. LeBrun, 363 F.3d 715, 719 (8th Cir. 2004) (en banc) (custody), cert. denied, 543 U.S. 1145 (2005); United States v. Ochoa-Gonzalez, 598 F.3d 1033, 1038 (8th Cir. 2010) (interrogation). 1 The Honorable Linda R. Reade, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Iowa, adopting the report and recommendations of the Honorable C.J. Williams, then Chief Magistrate Judge, now United States District Judge for the Northern District of Iowa. -2- I. Background When Sanchez-Velasco submitted his form SR-22, clerk Love could not find “Miguel M. Sanchez” in the IDOT database. She told Sanchez-Velasco he could leave and have the insurance company ...
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