[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 49 (Thursday, March 16, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S815-S816]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Fallon Smart Rule

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I rise today to highlight a new rule by the 
State Department that honors a 15-year-old Portland girl whose life was 
cut short by a hit-and-run driver in 2016. The girl's name is Fallon 
Smart, and the man accused of manslaughter in her hit-and-run death was 
a Saudi national.
  Subsequent reporting by my hometown paper, The Oregonian, uncovered 
that the Saudi national likely fled the country with the assistance of 
the Saudi Government. The paper's reporting later revealed that this 
Saudi affront to American justice was not--repeat, was not--an isolated 
example when its nationals face criminal charges in our country.
  Our paper found 17 cases in the United States and Canada of Saudi 
nationals who fled justice while facing criminal charges. These cases--
some go back decades--are not for parking tickets. The charges against 
these Saudi men include rape, manslaughter, and felony hit-and-run.
  In Oregon alone, journalists identified seven cases of Saudi 
nationals absconding justice. Their crimes included first-degree 
manslaughter, unlawful firearm possession, intoxicated driving, third-
degree felony assault, and multiple sex crimes including sexual abuse, 
first-degree rape, and numerous counts of first-degree encouraging 
child sex abuse.
  In Montana, two Saudi nationals fled after accusations of sexual 
assault.
  In Ohio, two Saudi nationals fled after being accused of third-degree 
involuntary manslaughter and beating people with weapons at a college 
bar.
  In Oklahoma, a Saudi national fled after being convicted of first-
degree rape.
  In Pennsylvania, a Saudi national fled after being accused of 
attempted rape.
  In Utah, a Saudi national fled after being convicted of rape.
  In Washington State, three Saudi nationals fled after respective 
accusations of rape, sexual assault of a child, and beating and 
stabbing a classmate.
  In Wisconsin, a Saudi national fled after being accused of two counts 
of sexual assault.

[[Page S816]]

  In most of these cases, local law enforcement confiscated the 
passports of the accused criminals and set bail at thresholds the 
individuals were unlikely to be able to pay themselves. Yet we now know 
that many of these individuals somehow made bail and quickly received 
the resources and travel documents necessary to board a plane and 
leave, only to resurface in Saudi Arabia.
  How did they leave the country without a passport?
  Based on this evidence, it appears that the Saudi Government was 
assisting their citizens in evading prosecution in the United States.
  I repeatedly pressed Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Marshals 
Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the State Department 
to explain what they knew about this pattern of cases. Despite all my 
efforts to get some answers, the Trump administration failed to even 
acknowledge the disturbing pattern or explain what, if anything, was 
being done to stop it.
  That is why, in 2019, I authored and got passed a law to declassify 
an FBI report on this issue. The FBI report contended that the Saudis 
were assisting fugitives, and they would not stop whisking away 
criminals until ``the U.S. Government directly addresses this issue 
with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and ties U.S. cooperation on KSA 
priorities to ceasing this activity.''
  So, in a sentence, you have foreign nationals in our country facing 
the most serious criminal charges and our supposed Saudi ally helping 
its citizens flee the American justice system. That is a disgrace, and, 
in my view, it demanded action.
  Once President Biden was sworn in, his administration assured me that 
American diplomats in Riyadh had raised this issue with Saudi officials 
at the highest level, but that was just the start. The State Department 
further pledged to me that it is acting to put in place a new policy 
named for Fallon Smart that would revoke visas ``in cases where a 
foreign official has provided concerning forms of assistance to foreign 
nationals in evading prosecution in the United States by absconding 
from the United States.''
  This Fallon Smart rule came after I put a hold on Michael Ratney's 
nomination to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. I did it to 
raise the profile of this issue and get commitments from the State 
Department. I lifted my hold on that nomination, and Mr. Ratney has 
been confirmed. I want to thank Secretary Blinken for agreeing to take 
concrete actions that are going to deter other foreign officials from 
assisting fugitives on American soil.
  I plan to watchdog the State Department's implementation of the new 
policy to ensure there is real accountability for foreign officials who 
prevented justice from being carried out in the manslaughter of Fallon 
Smart and other horrendous crimes across the country.
  There is no way to bring Fallon Smart back to her family and no 
punishment to heal the family's grief and loss, but today is a good day 
on the march to justice for Fallon Smart and so many others. The Fallon 
Smart rule sends a strong message that there is no place in our country 
for foreign officials who help criminal suspects evade the law, and I 
am going to continue to bird-dog this, closely watching the 
administration to make sure it enforces the Fallon Smart rule whenever 
there is evidence that foreign diplomats are undermining the American 
justice system.
  I promised never to be silent whenever Saudi Arabia tries to cleanse 
its blood-stained hands in the fight for U.S. justice in the hit-and-
run death of Fallon Smart. Her death at the hands of a Saudi national 
on Hawthorne Boulevard in Southeast Portland--near our home--must never 
be forgotten, and I can tell you the work to hold the Saudi officials 
accountable in this case will not ever be forgotten.
  Unfortunately, despite all the progress in achieving the Fallon Smart 
rule, some Federal bureaucrats in this administration continue to defer 
to the interests of dictators in the Middle East. That callous attitude 
by Federal immigration officials has had devastating impact at home in 
Oregon for two people who have done everything right to contribute to 
their adopted communities.
  The names of these two standout Oregonians are Matar Matar and his 
wife Dr. Amal Alyusuf, and the saga of this couple's unconscionable 
wait for asylum has also been detailed by in-depth reporting in The 
Oregonian newspaper.
  The couple's appeal for asylum began more than a decade ago. Matar 
was the youngest member of Bahrain's Parliament and had been jailed and 
tortured for weeks on end by Saudi-led security forces. The couple fled 
with their children to the United States for refuge and applied in good 
faith for asylum. More than 10 years later, their case somehow remains 
``pending'' in America.
  Our country, of course, has always taken great pride in providing 
refuge for people fleeing the worst abuses in their native countries. 
It is a path to freedom that the Wyden family knows more than a little 
about. My parents fled the Nazis in the thirties for safety in America. 
I am the proud first-generation son of those refugees, both of whom 
worked every day to contribute to our country.
  As has been well documented in The Oregonian, this Bahraini couple is 
doing the same thing in Oregon as my parents and uncounted millions of 
immigrants have done for centuries here; namely, this couple is making 
every available effort, while raising their three children, to make 
their new communities even better places to live and work. Matar works 
for the Willamette Dental Group in Portland, and Dr. Alyusuf provides 
essential healthcare in rural Oregon, practicing as a physician in 
Douglas County.
  Yet my office has run into a bureaucratic morass again and again from 
unresponsive immigration officials closing their eyes and ears to all 
the evidence of how this exemplary Oregon family is owed better. So 
just as I pledged to seek justice for Fallon Smart and to make sure 
this administration follows the Fallon Smart rule, I am, today, putting 
this administration on notice that I will be just as dogged in pursuing 
a just solution for this Bahraini family.
  Simply put, this family should not have to endure this brutal limbo 
of more than 10 years waiting to know that it can continue contributing 
to a better Oregon, free of fear from deportation at a moment's notice. 
And I intend to be relentless in helping this family, as we did with 
Fallon Smart, achieve the security and justice that they so deserve.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.