Well, THAT is something I'm going to wait for with baited breath.
......this would be an EXTRAORDINARY, and Historic departure from the norm.
Oh, and God Bless Mike McCaul !
GTC
Link:
http://www.brenhambanner.com/articles/2011/03/04/news/news04.txtPublished:
Friday, March 4, 2011 2:14 PM CST
WASHINGTON, D.C. � Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the United States will seek to extradite Mexican drug cartel members suspected of killing two U.S. agents last month.
Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) elicited that assurance during House Homeland Security Committee hearing here Thursday.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were shot to death Feb. 15 in Mexico.
McCaul, a member of the homeland security committee, had asked Napolitano whether the U.S. would seek to bring the suspects here, which included this exchange:
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Napolitano: �My understanding is that it will be prosecuted in the United States, but again those are decisions that are yet to come,� she said.
McCaul: �Is it the administration�s position that we will be seeking extradition to the United States?�
Napolitano: �Yes.�
McCaul, who chairs the Homeland Security Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, also pressed Napolitano on the administration�s position of whether the ambush that killed Agent Jaime Zapata and wounded Agent Victor Avila was a case of mistaken identity.
The suspects have claimed they mistook the agents for rival cartel members, which is contrary to the eyewitness account of Avila.
�The briefings I�ve received were that the two agents said, �We are American diplomats� and (that their vehicle possessed) the U.S. diplomatic tag. What is the position of this administration with respect to the claim that this was mistaken identity?� Rep. McCaul asked.
�I think it would be inappropriate for me to comment on the actual evidence that will come in. This obviously is a matter that is being prosecuted,� Napolitano replied.
�I�ll take the eyewitness account of our agent over the Zetas who have been apprehended any day and I hope the administration will back that eyewitness account,� McCaul said.
McCaul, whose district includes Washington County, is seeking to reform various aspects of U.S.-Mexico relations in response to the ICE ambush, including the inability of U.S. federal agents to carry weapons while serving in Mexico.
�I was surprised to find out that there�s a 1990 agreement that prohibits our officers from carrying weapons down in Mexico,� McCaul told Napolitano. �Things have dramatically changed since 1990. There is a war going on as you know and it seems to me our agents should be armed if we are going to put them down there in harm�s way. Would you support a revision of that agreement?�
Napolitano agreed to discuss the issue but to do so in a classified setting.
McCaul plans to hold a hearing this month to examine the U.S.� role in Mexico�s war against the drug cartels. He McCaul authored the 2006 report �A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border,� which exposed the emerging threat of the Mexican drug cartels and the exploitation of an unsecured border with Mexico.