[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.