[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 28261]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



               BRING U.S. FUGITIVES HOME TO FACE JUSTICE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, this month marks the 2-year 
anniversary of the murder of Sheila Bellush in my Congressional 
District in Sarasota, Florida. The alleged killer, Jose Luis Del Toro, 
fled to Mexico, and U.S. authorities spent almost 2 years trying to get 
him back. I am very pleased and relieved to report that Del Toro was 
extradited back to the United States on July 12 of this year to stand 
trial for murder. Even though it was a big relief to get Del Toro back 
in Sarasota, it was a big disappointment to have been forced by the 
Mexican government to give assurances that he would not be subject to 
the death penalty.
  Our local prosecutors have dealt with this problem of international 
flight to avoid prosecution more frequently than the Justice Department 
wants to admit. The Departments of Justice and State claim that they do 
not have statistics on extradition cases, even though both Departments 
play a key role in the extradition process. If statistics were 
available, I suspect that the total unresolved cases or denied requests 
might surpass those that were eventually resolved like Del Toro's.
  There is no doubt that when individuals flee across the border, they 
succeed in evading justice in varying degrees. In the Del Toro case, 
the suspect was spared the threat of the death penalty. The same can be 
said of Charles Bradley Price, one of two suspects in the 1997 Oregon 
killings who murdered two people for ``the thrill of it'' and then fled 
to Mexico. When Martin Pang fled from Seattle, Washington, to Brazil in 
1995, after setting a fire that killed four firefighters, Brazil would 
only allow the U.S. to try Pang for arson and not for the four deaths. 
Francisco Medina is wanted for the murders of at least 17 people in New 
York, but he is living the high life out of reach in the Dominican 
Republic. Convicted murderer Ira Einhorn has alluded extradition for 
over 18 years now and continues to live comfortably in France. Samuel 
Sheinbein, who is responsible for a brutal murder only a few miles from 
here, will walk free from Israel when he is only 33 years old.
  Unfortunately, these horrible examples only scratch the surface of 
this problem. It is our responsibility as Federal legislators to do 
what we can do to improve our odds of getting these suspects back so 
our local prosecutors can do their jobs without their hands tied behind 
their backs. Preventing criminals from escaping justice should be a 
priority of U.S. foreign policy.
  That is why I am here today to introduce the International 
Extradition Enforcement Act. This bill will hold foreign nations 
accountable for their level of cooperation with our crime-fighting 
efforts by placing their foreign assistance in jeopardy if they harbor 
U.S. fugitives. It will require the administration to produce an annual 
report on extradition, including the total number of pending 
extradition cases per country and the details of each case. This report 
will then be used by the administration to assess the level of 
cooperation for each country on extradition, and uncooperative 
countries could lose their foreign aid. My legislation would give the 
administration the ability to waive this provision if the President 
deems it to be in the national interest. But Congress would also have 
the ability to overturn the waiver with a vote.
  There are also additional criminal provisions provided in this 
legislation. This bill would increase the maximum sentence under 
Federal guidelines for flight to avoid prosecution from 5 years to a 
maximum of 15 years. And it will make the act of transferring anything 
of value to someone with the intent to assist that person in resisting 
extradition to the United States a criminal act subject to a maximum of 
10 years in prison.
  Dealing with extradition cases such as Jose Luis Del Toro has been 
one of the most frustrating things I have faced as a Member of 
Congress. I learned through the process that the victims, their 
families, State and local law enforcement and our prosecutors, and even 
Members of Congress, are helpless to do anything other than to draw 
attention to their cause.
  And the fate of justice lies in the hands of a foreign entity, which 
often may have no legitimate interest in this case. This is just plain 
wrong. This is not justice. Every country is entitled to its 
sovereignty, but when the U.S. is providing a nation with millions or 
billions of dollars in U.S. aid, I believe we have a right to expect 
and demand cooperation with law enforcement efforts.
  I hope that Congress will pass the International Extradition 
Enforcement Act next year to improve international cooperation with 
U.S. law enforcement. We need to ensure that criminals cannot find a 
safe haven anywhere in the world.

                          ____________________