A Colombian reader suggested I write a column about surrendering to U.S. authorities. While this article deals specifically with Colombia, it is relevant for all foreign nationals in danger of being arrested and extradited. The remedy is Voluntary Surrender.
If a Colombian man arrested in Colombia is intended for extradition, he is taken to Combita where he will wait more than a year, sometimes two, for the inevitable extradition. While at Combita he lives a terrible life. He takes cold showers, eats horrible food, fears sickness due to a lack of medical assistance and when his family members visit they are subject to humiliating searches in intimate areas by German Shepherds.
An individual arrested in the United States, on the other hand, goes to an American jail. Generally speaking, American jails are much better than foreign prisons. In the United States prisoners get warm showers, sufficient food, and adequate medical care. Federal jails are five star hotels compared to foreign jails. So it is always advantageous to surrender to U.S. authorities whether or not you intend to cooperate.
If you are facing extradition to the United States, do not surrender to U.S. authorities in Bogota. Because of your extradition request, the United States has already asked the Colombian authorities for their assistance in your apprehension and may be hesitant to interfere with the Colombian authorities actively searching for you. The U.S. will not want it to seem as if it is trying to help you evade the very same authorities it just asked for help. Personally, I do not think the United States has anything to fear, but you do not argue with power, you work around it. The best thing to do is get to another country.
A former client of mine was wanted by U.S. authorities. As fortune would have it, he was in Colombia visiting family, when the federales went to arrest him at his home in Connecticut in the United States. He was a naturalized American citizen, and as a property owner he could put up bail if he was arrested in the United States. However, if he got caught in Colombia he would be placed in confinement there, for the customary year or more, without bail. He contacted my office and I told him to get to Panama and I would come meet him. I was familiar with Panama because I used to live there.
Prior to leaving, I contacted the U.S. prosecutor to see if we could work out a deal regarding my client’s surrender and bail. The prosecutor agreed to my bail proposal which included putting up my client’s properties to secure the bail. Meanwhile, my client proceeded to Panama.
I then contacted DEA in Panama, and together my client and I met with the resident agent who took down my client’s personal information and took his picture. All this was done poolside over a quiet lunch at the El Panama Hotel. The defendant and I showed the agent our plane tickets, and he arranged to meet us at the airport in Panama (Tocumen) the following day. My client was not arrested or in custody.
We arrived at the airport, met the agent, walked to the plane, said goodbye to the agent and proceeded up the stairs to our seats. Once on the plane, we saw a movie, had dinner and five hours later landed at Kennedy airport in New York City (I thought it best to get him to New York on a late flight so he would not have to spend a lengthy amount of time in a lock-up before going to court, and as it turned out he did not even have to go to a lock-up). We had one final glass of champagne, and left the plane.
We were met by federal agents in the passageway. I had been in touch with the government authorities weeks before the actual surrender and had everything coordinated ahead of time. My client was taken to a special location to be processed, and we left the airport in the government’s van. The agents, with my client in tow, made their way downtown to their offices to await the opening of court. There, my client was placed in one of the offices after receiving food and drink.
That morning he was brought before a U.S. magistrate and bail was set. Because I had already discussed bail with the prosecutor prior to meeting my client in Panama, he was released that day. It was that simple. While it is the law that the question of bail is to be decided by a magistrate, if all parties agree, the magistrate will generally go along with the government’s recommendation. My client’s family was there with fresh clothes for him, and that night he was sleeping in his own bed. This was all done with no agreement to cooperate. It was a straight up voluntary surrender.
But what if an individual wants to surrender who is not an American citizen or resident and is not able to enter the United States? He or she still can and should surrender. Remember, you want to avoid a year or more of incarceration in a Colombian jail. This may require a short stay in a foreign jail or it may not. A special permit may allow a fugitive to travel to the U.S., but this should all be worked out before you surrender.
A voluntarily surrender should impress a judge in deciding bail or determining a sentence, and it is better than living like a fugitive. Not all people can live on the run. Once in the United States, your case will move forward to be resolved without waiting 18 months in Combita before extradition.
The question I hear most often with respect to surrendering is whether the U.S. government can be trusted. In the case above, my client was concerned that he would be arrested in Panama, but that did not happen. The U.S. government gave its word not to arrest him, and it kept its word. In my experience U.S. agents and prosecutors honor their agreements. If an agent or prosecutor says he or she will do something, he or she will do it.