[Senate Treaty Document 105-46]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



105th Congress                                              Treaty Doc.
                                SENATE

 2d Session                                                      105-46
_______________________________________________________________________


 
                PROTOCOL TO EXTRADITION TREATY WITH MEXICO

                               __________

                                MESSAGE

                                  from

                   THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              transmitting

PROTOCOL TO THE EXTRADITION TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 AND THE UNITED MEXICAN STATES OF MAY 4, 1978, SIGNED AT WASHINGTON ON 
                           NOVEMBER 13, 1997


 


May 21, 1998.--Protocol was read the first time, and together with the 
accompanying papers, referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations and 
            ordered to be printed for the use of the Senate


                         LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

                              ----------                              

                                     The White House, May 21, 1998.
To the Senate of the United States:
    With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the 
Senate to ratification, I transmit herewith the Protocol to the 
Extradition Treaty Between the United States of America and the 
United Mexican States of May 4, 1978, signed at Washington on 
November 13, 1997.
    In addition, I transmit, for the information of the Senate, 
the report of the Department of State with respect to the 
Protocol. As the report explains, the Protocol will not require 
implementing legislation.
    This Protocol will, upon entry into force, enhance 
cooperation between the law enforcement communities of both 
countries. The Protocol incorporates into the 1978 Extradition 
Treaty with Mexico a provision on temporary surrender of 
persons that is a standard provision in more recent U.S. 
bilateral extradition treaties.
    I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable 
consideration to the Protocol and give its advice and consent 
to ratification.

                                                William J. Clinton.


                          LETTER OF SUBMITTAL

                              ----------                              

                                       Department of State,
                                           Washington, May 7, 1998.
The President,
The White House.
    The President: I have the honor to submit to you the 
Protocol to the Extradition Treaty Between the United States of 
America and the United Mexican States of May 4, 1978 (``the 
Protocol''), signed at Washington on November 13, 1997. I 
recommend that the Protocol be transmitted to the Senate for 
its advice and consent to ratification.
    The Protocol represents the fulfillment of a pledge made in 
the Declaration of the Mexican/U.S. Alliance Against Drugs, 
signed at Mexico City on May 6, 1997, to ``ensure that 
fugitives are expeditiously and with due legal process brought 
to justice and are unable to evade justice in one country by 
fleeing to or remaining in the other.''
    The Protocol incorporates into the 1978 Extradition Treaty 
with Mexico (the ``1978 Treaty'') a provision on temporary 
surrender of persons which has become a standard provision in 
more recent United States bilateral extradition treaties. 
Temporary surrender can be an important tool for use in cases 
where serious crimes have been committed in one country which 
might go unpunished if trial in that country were to be delayed 
for a long period while a sentence was being served for 
different crimes committed in the other country. It thus 
enables sequential trials of individuals who have committed 
extraditable offenses in both countries at a time when 
witnesses and evidence to both crimes are readily available.
    Article 1(1) of the Protocol amends the title of Article 15 
of the 1978 Treaty to include reference to temporary surrender. 
Article 1(2) sets out the new text to be added to Article 15 
regarding temporary surrender, which will form new paragraphs 
(2) and (3) of that Article.
    New Article 15(2) provides that a Party which has granted 
an extradition request (the ``Requested Party'') made by the 
other Party (the ``Requesting Party'') in accordance with the 
Treaty, with respect to a person who already has been convicted 
and sentenced in the Requested Party, may temporarily surrender 
the person to the Requesting Party before or during service of 
sentence for the crimes committed in the Requested Party. It 
further provides that the person so surrendered shall be kept 
in custody in the Requesting Party, and shall be returned to 
the Requested Party after conclusion of the proceedings in the 
Requesting Party, inaccordance with conditions to be determined 
by agreement of the Parties.
    It is anticipated that extradition authorities in both 
countries, which in some cases will include state-level 
authorities, would consult in order to develop the case-
specific agreement necessary to effect a temporary transfer. 
Such agreements would address arrangements for transferring 
custody of, and for returning, the prisoner, as well as 
authorizing further consultations on any extraordinary 
circumstances which may arise. By establishing a treaty-based 
legal framework for case-specific agreements, it should now 
prove possible for state-level authorities to offer the 
necessary assurances of custody and return, without which past 
efforts to effect temporary surrenders with Mexico have been 
frustrated. Consistent with our normal extradition practice any 
case-specific agreements or assurances would be concluded by 
the federal authorities on behalf of the state authorities.
    New Article 15(3) addresses one possible outcome of a 
temporary surrender--a finding at trial in the Requesting Party 
that the person surrendered is not guilty of the offenses 
charged. In that circumstance, the Protocol provides that the 
period of time spent in custody in the Requesting Party shall 
be credited towards completion of the sentence remaining to be 
served in the Requested Party which originally surrendered the 
person. This provision is intended to ensure that the person 
receives credit somewhere for time in custody even when the 
general sentencing practice of the Requested Party would not 
normally recognize time served in another jurisdiction.
    Article 2 addresses the relationship between the Protocol 
and other international instruments with Mexico. Paragraph (1) 
provides that the Protocol forms an integral part of the 1978 
Treaty, and that accordingly its interpretation is governed by 
the principles contained in the Treaty, such as the rule of 
specialty. Paragraph (2) clarifies that the requirements of the 
1976 Treaty on the Execution of Penal Sentences (the ``Prisoner 
Transfer Treaty''), which generally governs prisoner transfers, 
does not apply to a temporary surrender under this Protocol.
    Unlike prisoner transfer, a temporary surrender does not 
relocate a prisoner for purposes of serving a sentence, but 
only for purposes of trial, after which he or she is to be 
returned to serve sentences imposed in the respective Parties. 
At the same time, the Protocol does not preclude the subsequent 
operation of the Prisoner Transfer Treaty with respect to a 
person who has been temporarily surrendered, tried, and 
convicted.
    Article 2(3) provides that the Protocol is subject to 
ratification, and enters into force on the date of exchange of 
instruments of ratification. It terminates upon termination of 
the Extradition Treaty.
    The Protocol does not require implementing legislation.
    A Technical Analysis explaining in detail the provisions of 
the Protocol is being prepared by the United States negotiating 
delegation and will be submitted separately to the Senate 
Committee on Foreign Relations.
    The Department of Justice joins the Department of State in 
favoring approval of this Protocol by the Senate at an early 
date.
    Respectfully submitted,
                                                     Strobe Talbot.




                                
