Under what circumstances can a defendant be considered "vulnerable" in a civil case?

Defense counsel argued that the adjustment could not be imposed under United States v. Castellanos, ⁶ reading that case as barring adjustments based on treating all persons of a particular targeted ethnicity as vulnerable. The district judge distinguished Castellanos: "This is a different case, in my view, because the vulnerability is not that they are Hispanic; the vulnerability is that they are illegal. They are people who are here under a cloud and therefore they are -they know they must do something . . . . They are afraid. They are particularly vulnerable because they are here illegally." The judge recalled "one victim who testified who seemed particularly vulnerable, not very sophisticated at all, very frightened by what was going to happen to her and her family if she had to leave."

Analysis

The guideline at issue, U.S.S.G. 3A1.1(b), provides: