United States v. Juan Chaparro-Alcantara and Jaime Romero-Bautista

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge.

Juan Chaparro-Alcantara and Jaime Romero-Bautista are Mexican nationals who were arrested for transporting illegal aliens. After their arrest, an INS agent informed them of their Miranda rights, but the agent did not inform them of their right under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention (“Article 36”) to contact the Mexican Consulate. The two then made inculpatory statements to the officers interviewing them. Both defendants sought to suppress the statements. They argued that the failure to inform them of their rights under Article 36 mandated the exclusion of the evidence.