In United States v. Rizo-Rizo, --- F.4th ---, No. 20-50172 (9th Cir. 2021), the Court affirmed a conviction for attempted illegal entry in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(1).
The Court held: "8 U.S.C. § 1325(a) is a regulatory offense, and no presumption in favor of scienter applies.We thus conclude that Congress’s silence as to knowledge of alienage means what such silence in a regulatory offense usually means. We therefore hold that knowledge of alienage is not an element of § 1325(a)."
