Case: 17-12262 Date Filed: 03/17/2020 Page: 1 of 19 [PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 17-12262 ________________________ D.C. Docket No. 8:14-cr-00054-CEH-AAS-2 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus ROSA ENEDIA PAZOS CINGARI, DOMENICO CINGARI, Defendants-Appellants. ________________________ Appeals from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida ________________________ (March 17, 2020) Before JORDAN, GRANT, and SILER,* Circuit Judges. GRANT, Circuit Judge: * Honorable Eugene E. Siler, Jr., Senior United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, sitting by designation. Case: 17-12262 Date Filed: 03/17/2020 Page: 2 of 19 Defendants Domenico and Rosa Cingari, a husband and wife who defrauded hundreds of undocumented aliens into paying about $740,000 for falsified federal immigration forms, contest their sentences. They say that they should not be jointly and severally liable for the forfeiture judgment in the amount that they collected in their scheme; that way, one of them could be liable for some “minimal amount,” allowing them to pay off that liability and then “live their lives” as “a happily married couple.” Additionally, they say, they should be sentenced under the lesser penalty set out for falsifying immigration forms rather than the greater penalty set out for fraud and deceit. Because the district court committed no plain error in holding them jointly and severally liable for repaying the proceeds of their illegal conduct, and because the Sentencing Guidelines direct that they be sentenced for fraud and deceit, we affirm the judgment of the district court. I. A. For more than four years, migrant workers and other aliens went to the Cingaris’ business looking for help getting Florida driver’s licenses. The Cingaris had apparently mastered the art of obtaining a key Department of Homeland Security document formally known as a Form I-797C Notice of Action, but nicknamed “the torch” for its torch watermark. Under Florida law, aliens can use “the torch” to prove their identity and lawful status for licensing purposes. See Fla. Stat. § 322.08(2)(c)(8). Those coming to the Cingaris for help knew the couple could get them the document; what they did not know was how the Cingaris did it. To obtain a Form 2 Case: 17-12262 Date Filed: 03/17/2020 Page: 3 of 19 I-797C, the Cingaris would fill out and mail two other kinds of federal immigration documents: (1) a Form I-589 application for asylum and withholding of removal, and (2) a Form I-130, a document used to establish a relationship between a citizen (or lawful permanent resident) and an alien. Once DHS received these two forms, it would generally issue a Form I-797C. Without the applicants’ knowledge, the Cingaris would often alter the facts provided in applications. Some falsely reported that an applicant had suffered persecution, while others manufactured a false identity. Still others lied about the applicant’s lawful status, residential address, and social security number. On each fraudulent application, the Cingaris listed their own business address as the applicant’s mailing address, so that they, ...
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