Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am introducing legislation today that will help address the serious problem of fugitives who commit violent crimes in the United States and then flee to foreign countries.

This problem was highlighted by a recent investigative series in the Chicago Tribune newspaper. The Tribune reported on a number of horrible crimes that were allegedly committed in Illinois by suspects who now live openly in foreign countries. The Tribune identified at least 129 criminal suspects who have fled from northern Illinois over the last decade who remain at-large abroad. This problem appears to be growing steadily as our world becomes increasingly interconnected. The stories in the Tribune series are heartbreaking.

Here is one example. In 2000, 19-year-old Alma Chavez was living in Pilsen with her family and studying to become a nurse. After she broke up with her boyfriend, Raul Andrade Tolentino, he came looking for her one early morning at her house. As he later confessed, Tolentino stabbed Alma several times with a knife. As she lay dying in her living room, Alma called 911, and the police responded and found Tolentino. After he was arrested, Tolentino was then released on a $20,000 bond. Just over a month later, Tolentino fled Illinois and eventually went to Mexico.

Intent on bringing his daughter's killer back to the U.S. justice system, Alma's father Bonifacio Chavez repeatedly went to Mexico, spending his money to track down leads on Tolentino and interview informants to learn his whereabouts. Even though Alma's father eventually found Tolentino's new town in Mexico, and U.S. authorities issued an arrest warrant in 2007, Bonifacio Chavez died without seeing Tolentino face the murder charge in Illinois. To this day, Tolentino remains free, and the rest of the Chavez family is still waiting for him to be prosecuted.

This is just one of the many cases brought to light by the Tribune series. What has struck me most about these international fugitive cases is the deep sense of injustice, prolonged grief, and sometimes fear that victims like the Chavez family experience. They suffer not just from the original crime, but also from the years they spend waiting, sometimes fruitlessly, for those responsible to face justice.

Illinois is not alone in experiencing a problem with international fugitives. This affects states across our country. In 2003, the Justice Department estimated that there were several thousand U.S. fugitives located abroad but only 1,413 were being sought for extradition. These numbers are unacceptable, and we must do more to ensure that these fugitives are captured and brought back.

When a criminal suspect flees across our country's border, it often requires the involvement of the local police or sheriffs, the local prosecutor, the U.S. Marshals, FBI, the Justice Department, INTERPOL, and usually some combination of these agencies, to track down and extradite the suspect. These proceedings can be complicated, lengthy, and expensive. And when the agencies involved do not cooperate effectively, information can get lost between them or the process can become stalled for years.

In January, I hosted a summit in Chicago to discuss ways to improve the apprehension and extradition of international fugitives. In attendance were Deputy Attorney General James Cole, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S. Marshal Darryl McPherson, Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, and representatives from numerous other Federal, State and local agencies. With all of the stakeholders together in one room, we identified several key steps that would improve the situation, including more training for local agencies on handling fugitive cases; improved tracking of these cases; increased coordination between federal, state and local agencies; more resources dedicated to fugitive cases; and removing barriers to extradition with other countries.

It was a very constructive meeting. I am pleased to report that progress is being made on all of these fronts. This week the Justice Department will hold two International Fugitive Apprehension Trainings for Chicago-area law enforcement and prosecutors. The trainings, led by the U.S. Attorney's Office, will give guidance to local agencies on how to locate international fugitives and bring them to justice.

To track fugitive cases better, many of the Illinois law enforcement agencies and prosecutor offices have committed to reviewing their fugitive cases to ensure that their investigations and files are up-to-date. This will ensure that cases do not fall off the radar screen.

At the summit, I learned that local agencies were not sure which federal agency they should turn to first for assistance in a fugitive case. That question has now been answered by the Justice Department. The U.S. Marshals have been designated the first point of contact for Illinois agencies with fugitive cases.

Also, the summit highlighted how information-sharing and coordination between Federal, State and local agencies has been a problem in the past. But that is being improved. The Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, based in Chicago, is led by the U.S. Marshals and provides a major source of information, resources and support to local law enforcement agencies in Illinois. The Task Force also helps provide much-needed funding to our local law enforcement agencies to buy equipment such as cars and radios and to pay for overtime. This type of funding is critical to ensuring that agencies can devote the resources needed to investigate and prosecute complicated and expensive fugitive cases.

Right now, our Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies are doing the best they can with limited budgets during these difficult times. Giving them a little extra help will go a long way towards improving their collaboration and their enforcement. We can provide this help at the federal level by increasing the funding for the primary agencies that take part or assist local agencies in the capture and extradition of international fugitives--the U.S. Marshals, U.S. Attorneys, and the Office of International Affairs.

The bill I am introducing today, the Bringing Justice to Fugitives Act, would allow the Attorney General to use the money from forfeited bonds in federal criminal cases for these agencies' fugitive apprehension efforts.

Under the bill, this money can be used by the U.S. Marshals to enhance their fugitive task forces and investigations. It can be used by U.S. Attorney's Offices to conduct trainings and pursue prosecutions. And it can be used by the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs to enhance extradition efforts.

The amount of money involved is not huge--around $1 3 million per year is collected in federal bond forfeiture money. But a little money can go a long way in fugitive cases. Right now, the money from forfeited bonds is deposited into the Crime Victims Fund. It makes up just a tiny fraction of the total Fund. Dedicating these forfeited bond funds for fugitive apprehensions will help victims by bringing more perpetrators to justice without unduly sacrificing any of the programs which receive money from the Crime Victims Fund.

My legislation does not touch any of the other sources of funding for the Crime Victims Fund, and I will work closely with crime victim support groups to ensure that their efforts are not hindered by this legislation.

The bill also establishes an important principle that when criminal suspects flee, we will use their forfeited bond money to arrest them and bring them back. The victims of fugitive crimes deserve that justice. Because most fugitives are prosecuted by states, this legislation also plays a critical role by serving as a model for states to follow.

I hope that the state and local jurisdictions will take similar action by pursuing steps to make bond forfeiture funds available for fugitive capture and extradition. The bottom line is that when people are hurt by violent crime, often one of their first wishes is to see their perpetrator go through the criminal justice process. The Bringing Fugitives to Justice Act will help these victims by guaranteeing that our law enforcement agencies will step up their efforts to capture more fugitives and bring them to justice.

Finally, I want to mention that I am working to remove barriers to extradition that the Tribune series highlighted. For example, the Tribune pointed out that our extradition treaty with Mexico should be revisited so that U.S. crimes like reckless homicide can be treated as extraditable offenses. We also need to address differences in the two countries' statute of limitations periods, which can limit extradition in some cases.

I met at the end of February with the Mexican Ambassador, Arturo Sarukhan, to discuss the need to work on these aspects of our extradition treaty. The Ambassador, and Mexico in general, have been constructive partners in our extradition efforts, and I am grateful for this positive relationship. I also urged the Ambassador to make sure that the cases highlighted by the Tribune were being pursued to the best of Mexico's ability. While I cannot share any details about specific cases, I am reassured that that message has been received.

In short, while international fugitive cases still pose many challenges, we are continuing to work to improve the system at the state, local, Federal and international level. We are making progress, and the legislation I am introducing today will help.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record,

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