International Extradition to the United States

What is the procedure for requesting Extradition from a foreign country?

When local U.S. authorities seek a fugitive, the government is obligated by the Speedy Trial Act to attempt to locate the defendant’s whereabouts as soon as possible and seek extradition immediately. After the prosecutors locate the defendant, they contact the Office of International Affairs (OIA).

The Office of International Affairs’ function is to provide information and advice to Federal and State prosecutors about the procedure for requesting extradition from abroad. Once the OIA receives and evaluates an extradition request, it will submit it to the U.S. Department of State. The local U.S. law enforcement officials are not authorized to contact foreign authorities directly.

The Department of State will send the extradition documents to the U.S. Embassy in the foreign country. The Embassy then will present the requests to the foreign ministry. The request and supporting documents are then sent to local foreign courts for determining whether the requirements of the treaty and the country’s domestic law have been met.

Who may be extradited?

There is no universal formula in deciding which case is extraditable. However, the following factors may be crucial in determining wither the prosecutors will seek extradition:

• The fugitive’s current location

• Availability of the extradition treaty

• The citizenship of the fugitive. In the case of dual citizenship, many countries will not extradite their own citizens

• Crimes charged

• Whether the fugitive has been indicted, convicted, or just wanted on a warrant.

• Whether the case is triable. i.e., that the government is able to produce all necessary witnesses and evidence to secure a conviction and that the nature of the case would justify the high costs involved in completing extradition.

When the fugitive is non-extraditable for any reason and is not a national or lawful resident of the country in which he or she is located, the Department of State may ask that country to deport or expel the fugitive.

In addition, the 1992 Supreme Court ruling allows U.S. courts to try criminal defendants who were abducted from foreign countries by the US agents.

What Charges May Be Pressed After Extradition

Under normal circumstances, a fugitive who has been extradited may be prosecuted only for the particular offenses for which extradition was granted. When the extradited fugitive is charged with a crime for which the foreign country did not agree to surrender him or her, the Rule of Specialty can be used by the defense to dismiss the case or appeal the sentence.

Foreign Extradition Requests

Requests by foreign authorities for the extradition of fugitives from the United States are processed in a similar fashion. A formal extradition request is submitted by the embassy of the requesting country to the Department of State, which forwards it to the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs. If the request is proper, the OIA will forward it to the local federal prosecutor’s office that will obtain the warrant and have the fugitive arrested.

If you are arrested on a foreign extradition request, the government will oppose bond because of the high flight risk. The federal district judge or magistrate will schedule a hearing under 18 U.S.C. § 3184 to determine whether the fugitive is extraditable. If the court decides that the fugitive is extraditable, it will enter an order of extradition and certify the record to the Secretary of State, who decides whether to surrender the fugitive to the requesting government.

At this stage, the order following the extradition hearing is not appealable. The defense will be limited to petitioning the court for a writ of habeas corpus as soon as the order is issued. This could be the only way to save extradition because the district court’s decision on the writ is subject to appeal, and the extradition may have stayed if the court so orders.

Source by Joseph Potashnik