Opinion ID: 3040158
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Alleged Treaty Violations

Text: [2] Our analysis of the challenge to personal jurisdiction begins with the express terms of the applicable extradition treaty. See Alvarez-Machain, 504 U.S. at 663. The United States-Costa Rica Extradition Treaty does not oblige either country to refrain from granting extradition if an appeal regarding the defendant’s citizenship status is pending. See Extradition Treaty, U.S.-Costa Rica, Dec. 4, 1982, S. Treaty Doc. No. 98-17 (1991). Instead, the treaty provides: The Requested State shall undertake all available legal measures to suspend proceedings for the naturalization of the person sought until a decision is made on the request for extradition and, if that request is granted, until that person is surrendered. Id. art. 8, ¶ 2. [3] Thus, under the treaty, Costa Rica was required to suspend its decision on Anderson’s request for naturalized citizenship until after it surrendered Anderson to the United States. The United States’ extradition request was filed in March 2002. The Costa Rican trial court granted extradition on July 24, 2002, and Anderson was removed to Florida on December 4, 2002. During the period between March and December 2002, naturalization proceedings relating to Anderson should have been suspended. Instead, Anderson was granted Costa Rican citizenship on July 3, 2002. That grant of citizenship was a violation of the extradition treaty. Costa Rica’s later annulment of that improper grant of citizenship and suspension of any further naturalization proceedings, including appeals, was therefore proper. In addition, no terms of the treaty were violated by Anderson’s removal to the United States while his citizenship appeal was pending. [4] No provision of the United States-Costa Rica Extradition Treaty requires that extradition be postponed until the 20020 UNITED STATES v. ANDERSON highest court of the country from which extradition is requested has ruled on that request. Article twelve provides that “[a] person detained pursuant to the Treaty shall not be released until the extradition request has been finally decided.” Id. art. 12. “Surrender,” however, is the term used in the treaty to describe the physical transfer of a person whose extradition has been granted, as opposed to simple “release” from detention. Compare id. art. 13, ¶ 3 (“If the extradition has been granted, surrender of the person shall take place within such time as may be prescribed by the law of the Requested State.”), with id. art. 12 (quoted above). [5] We conclude that Anderson’s removal from Costa Rica to Florida on December 4, 2002, complied with the United States-Costa Rica Extradition Treaty.