NO PLACE TO HIDE?

Mexico Is Returning More Suspects To The United States Than Ever-But U.S.
Prosecutors Are Still Fuming

Michael Longo is a U.S. citizen.

In late December, shortly after the bodies of his wife and three children
turned up in Oregon, he flew to Cancun. He checked in to a thatched-roof
beach hut in the low-key town of Tulum, told tourists he was a journalist
and even attended a town meeting.

Not long after the FBI plastered wanted posters of Longo along the coast
and publicized the case on "America's Most Wanted"-a TV show available on
cable in Mexico-a local turned him in. The next day the FBI flew Longo to
Houston.

AGUSTIN VAZQUEZ MENDOZA is Mexican. In 1994 he allegedly ordered the
killing of a U.S. drug-enforcement officer in Glendale, Arizona. He, too,
fled to Mexico. After a manhunt that cost the U.S. government more than $1
million, Mexican police arrested him in July 2000, and Arizona began
extradition proceedings. At the time, the DEA chief said the arrest proved
that the "DEA will pursue traffickers to the ends of the earth." Maybe. But
last month a Mexican court denied the request of U.S. prosecutors to
extradite Vazquez to Arizona for trial.

But disappearing in Mexico has never been harder.

Last year Mexico returned more than 100 U.S. fugitives, more than triple
the number in 2000.

Two men accused of murder on U.S. soil, both subject to the death penalty
if convicted, both seeking refuge in Mexico. Taken together, their stories
show how well the United States and Mexico have come to cooperate on
bringing criminals to book-and how far they have to go. Mexico has long
refused to extradite its own citizens who would potentially face the death
penalty.

But last fall the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that life in prison also
violates the principle of the Mexican Constitution that all criminals can
be rehabilitated. So while the year-old government of Vicente Fox now sends
home wanted Americans at a record pace, returning Mexicans has become even
more complicated. Hollywood has long portrayed the U.S. southern border as
the gateway to freedom for criminals.

U.S. citizens need only a birth certificate to board a plane to Mexico-and
often no document at all to cross on foot or by car. Last fall U.S.
officials worried that accomplices in the September 11 terrorist attacks
would flee south.

But disappearing in Mexico has never been harder.

Last year Mexico returned more than 100 U.S. fugitives, more than triple
the number in 2000. At least half are accused of murder.

Other recent cases involve a man charged with threatening U.S. presidents
over the Internet, an armored-car-company employee who stole $3.5 million
and several spouses who absconded with their children in the middle of
custody battles. Those Americans accused of capital crimes could take
advantage of the Supreme Court ruling to challenge their returns, but few
do. Longo, who had no lawyer in Mexico, forfeited his chance to see a judge
and agreed to return voluntarily. More commonly, Mexico deports wanted
Americans on immigration violations.

Sending back Mexicans is another matter.

At least 70 extradition requests-mostly for drug kingpins and murderers-are
held up by the recent court ruling.

The U.S. government is arguing its case, but the court's decision is a big
obstacle.

In the case of Vazquez, accused of killing the DEA agent, prosecutors may
have to guarantee a sentence of no more than 60 years in prison, the
maximum allowed in Mexico, if they expect to get him back. In the case of
Mario Villanueva, a former state governor arrested last fall and charged
with cocaine smuggling, U.S. prosecutors originally sought a life sentence.

But in their extradition request last month, they scaled back the charges
to avoid conflict with the Mexican ruling.

Their efforts are complicated by the fact that Vazquez also faces charges
in Mexico.

Other U.S. prosecutors are unwilling to budge.

Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley made extradition a campaign
issue in 2000, agreeing to rule out the death penalty in order to get
fugitives back. It seemed to be paying off. Last fall Mexican police
arrested a Mexican accused of murdering two teen-agers, and plans were
underway to send him to Los Angeles. But then came the Supreme Court
decision. Even if he wanted to rule out life-in-prison sentences, Cooley
says, mandatory-sentencing laws in California would not allow him to do so.
The court ruling, he said, threatens to turn Mexico into a refuge for
criminals and set back its improving relationship with the United States.
"Maybe these terrorist types will want to flee to Mexico to avoid
extradition to the countries where they committed their crimes," he says.
"What if Osama bin Laden shows up in Mexico tomorrow?" Good luck
rehabilitating him.