Mexico got no extradition request on border agent killer

Washington Times:

Mexican law-enforcement authorities released from jail a man suspected of running over and killing a U.S. Border Patrol agent during an aborted drug-smuggling attempt because U.S. officials never asked that he be held or sought his extradition during the five months he was in custody, the Mexican Embassy in Washington said Monday.

Jesus Navarro Montes, 22, was detained Jan. 22 by Mexican state and federal authorities in the town of El Yaqui in the northern state of Sonora in connection with the killing three days earlier of Border Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar Jr. He was released from custody on June 18, a week before the U.S. government presented Mexico with a "provisional arrest request" for his extradition.

Mexican Embassy spokesman Ricardo Alday said Mr. Navarro's release was ordered by Mexicali Federal Judge Laura Serrano Alderete after she ruled against pending and unrelated smuggling charges against Mr. Navarro, saying Mexican authorities who brought the case lacked jurisdiction. At the time, no U.S. request was on file to hold Mr. Navarro on any other charges, Mr. Alday said.

"Although we had asked the U.S. government a couple of times before his release to help us deal with the matter so we could hold Mr. Navarro, we got nothing whatsoever. The U.S. response never came," Mr. Alday said.

"No arrest warrant was presented, no evidence was offered and no one from the U.S. government contacted Mexican authorities concerning his extradition," he said. "We couldn't hold him with no evidence of a crime. We needed help, but we never got it."

Mr. Alday said federal officials in Mexico City were not aware of the release until after it occurred, and the Mexican attorney general's office has since issued an order that Mr. Navarro be located and detained. He also said Mexican federal officials appealed the ruling in Mr. Navarro's immigration case.

Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr on Monday declined to discuss the case.

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I think if they had filed an extradition request they would be discussing it. There is no reason to not publicize extradition requests in a case like this where the perp was in custody. In fact they have publicized some high profile extradition request including a terror suspect in the UK, Hamza. I think they are declining to comment out of embarrassment.