Whistle-blower Edward Snowden, probably the most famous fugitive currently on the run from the U.S. government, may have found a safe haven for now in Russia. But hundreds of other fugitives are not so lucky. More than 900 people wanted for crimes in the United States were extradited from 68 countries last year, according to the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from Vocativ.
Mexico, Colombia and Canada extradited fugitives to the United States in the largest numbers last year. While it makes geographic sense for someone on the lam to make the quick hop south or north of the border, the high number of extraditions from Colombia reflects a long-standing agreement between Bogotá and Washington, D.C., to send suspected drug traffickers to the United States to stand trial. One of the most high-profile Colombian cocaine traffickers, known as Loco, was extradited in July to the United States, where he faces charges in New York and Florida of running a multimillion-dollar narcotics operation.
Most of the fugitives arrested abroad last year were wanted for narcotics offenses, followed by sex crimes, fraud and homicide. Among some of the high-profile cases: a man extradited from Albania accused of heading an international human-smuggling network, a rabbi extradited from Canada charged with operating a massive immigration fraud scheme, and a Ukrainian citizen extradited from Thailand accused of operating a hardcore child-pornography website.
More than 100 countries have extradition treaties with the United States, dating as far back as 1902 (Iceland) and as recently as 2003 (Lithuania). Dozens of other countries do not, including Iran, North Korea, China and Russia. And some countries such as Spain and Yemen will extradite without a treaty.
And then there’s Cuba, which has a treaty with the United States but still refused to extradite most American fugitives during the Fidel Castro era. In fact, the FBI tells Vocativ that as of 2009 there were 77 fugitives in Cuba who are wanted by the agency. However, last year Cuba extradited at least one person, according to the USMS, the primary federal agency that tracks and arrests fugitives at home and abroad. And earlier this year, Cuba extradited a Florida couple charged with kidnapping their children after losing custody.
“Cuba has long been a preferred haven for people fleeing American justice,” says Jacques Semmelman, a partner at the law firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle in New York City and an expert in international extraditions. But Semmelman speculates that there might be a gradual behind-the-scenes improvement in diplomatic relationships. “We have a very old extradition treaty with Cuba that goes back over 100 years,” he says. “Even though the political relationship has been very chilly, the treaty continues to exist. [The extraditions] would certainly signify an interesting turn of events.”
As for Snowden, Semmelman says since there is no extradition treaty with Russia, the United States is “not well positioned to complain that the Russians aren’t playing fair,” especially since, he says, the United States has turned down extradition requests from Russia in the past.
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