Extradition

The United-States Treaty of Extradition was executed on May 4, 1978. It came into force on January 25, 1980. It consists of 23 articles and an appendix enlisting the crimes for which an extradition can be requested.

The Parties indicate in the Preamble that the intention of the agreement is to "cooperate more closely in the fight against crime and, to this end, mutually render better assistance in matters of extradition".

The Treaty is designed to cover all aspects of extradition, i.e, regarding both the return of suspect offenders as well as fugitives already sentenced.
" The Treaty describes the obligation of the Parties to extradite people requested for offenses committed in the territory of the requiring Party.
" It provides for the principles of specialty and double criminality.
" It includes provisions for non-extradition in the case of political or military offenses, or if capital punishment could be applied.
" It includes the principle non bis in idem (double jeopardy doctrine) and sets the rules for the statute of limitation.
" It details the extradition procedure, the requirements that have to be met in order for extradition to be granted, as well as the form and conditions for the delivery of the extradited individuals.

Both governments also executed on November 23, 1994, the Treaty to prohibit Transborder Abductions, which has not yet taken effect, and on November 13, 1997, they signed the Protocol to the Treaty of Extradition in the matter of temporary extradition (liga al archivo EUA - Protocolo Temporal - 1997 - ing.pdf) and that took effect on May 21, 2001.

Bilateral cooperation for locating and the reciprocal return of fugitive has been considerably strengthened and as a result it has notably increased in the last years.

" Between 1980 and 1994 the Treaty of Extradition was sporadically used. During this period
o Mexico extradited eight fugitives towards the U.S.
o The U.S. handed in extradition thirty fugitives to Mexico.
o Hence, both governments committed themselves to intensify their cooperation efforts against crime, including drug-trafficking and organized crime.

" In contrast to the previous period, between 1995 and 2000
o Mexico extradited 61 persons towards the U.S., and
o The U.S. handed in extradition to Mexico a total of 86 fugitives.
o I.e., in these five years Mexico extradited to the U.S. seven times the number of fugitives it extradited during the first fifteen years of the Treaty.
o On the other hand, in this same period, starting from a higher base number, the number of extraditions from the U.S. to Mexico grew three-fold.

" During the administrations of President Fox and President Bush, bilateral collaboration efforts have intensified still more. Between 2001 and 2003:
o Mexico extradited 72 fugitives to the U.S. (17 in 2001, 24 in 2002 and 31 in 2003). I.e., in 2003 alone, Mexico handed more than double the number of fugitives it turned over in 2000.
o The U.S. extradited 46 fugitives to Mexico (11 in 2001, 18 in 2002 and 17 in 2003).

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