United States v. Wilmer Canelas-Amador

OPINION

ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge.

As anyone who watches detective shows on television can tell you, it is rarely good news when “the feds” take over on a case — they are generally portrayed as likely to bungle the whole thing, permitting the guilty party to get off scot-free. This trope is certainly a gross exaggeration. But at least in this case there may be a grain of truth to it, albeit in circumstances involving the less-than-thrilling minutiae of immigration law and the federal sentencing guidelines.

Six years ago Tennessee law enforcement officials arrested illegal immigrant…