Duress defense properly denied to reentry defendant who had been in U.S. illegally for three years

United States v. Arias-Quijada, 2019 WL 2495832 (10th Cir. June 27, 2019) (OK): Arias was charged with illegal reentry. He reserved the right to appeal the district court’s denial of his motion to assert a duress defense. The panel affirmed the district court’s decision. Because Arias committed a continuing crime and did not surrender to law enforcement, he was required to proffer evidence that he had a well-grounded fear of an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury during the entirety of the 3 years he remained illegally in the US. His subjective belief that he would be immediately returned to El Salvador if he surrendered was not supported by evidence in the record. Also he never ‘formally’ applied for asylum or otherwise sought to enter legally. Therefore, the panel concluded, there was no evidence from which a jury could determine he acted reasonably by failing to surrender to law enforcement either when he entered illegally or during the 3 years between that entry and his arrest.