“The crux of the matter is that under the Vienna Conventions, foreigners must be allowed to contact their consulates if they are arrested.”
The illegal alien murderer never asked to contact his consulate, and his attorneys never raised the question during his trial. He was not denied the right to contact his consulate. This sounds more like an international Miranda case where arresting authorities might be required in the future to inform foreigners of their right to contact their consulates. Assuming, of course, they are in a city where it’s legal to inquire about their legal status.
“Medellin was arrested a few days later. He was told he had a right to remain silent and have a lawyer present, but the police did not tell him that he could request assistance from the Mexican consulate.”
Just an international Miranda case.
Do you also want to extend this right to those with dual Mexican/US citizenship, which the Mexican government is greatly encouraging, giving that group greater rights the mere American citizens??
Additional comment: If illegal aliens are arrested in sanctuary cities, the arresting officers are prohibited from inquiring about legal status. I think Houston is a sanctuary city, so those officers could not have informed the murderer that he could contact his consulate.
Jorge may have second thoughts when that’s considered. He might not have thought this one through as well as he thinks. To inform the arrestee that he can contact a consulate, they must ask questions as to citizenship and status in the US, which is prohibited in most large US cities.
Calling it an international Miranda case is interesting and it sounds like a reasonable label. However, this is not simply a case of more righs for Mexicans. This case is critical because Americans have the same rights when they are outside of the U.S. To deny these rights to foreigners here means to deny these rights to Americans abroad. No group has more rights than another.