Extradition is a well-established procedure in international law to secure the criminal prosecution of a fugitive who has fled the country seeking to try that person. “Extradition [constitutes] the surrender by one nation to another of an individual accused or convicted of an offense outside its own territory, and within the territorial jurisdiction of the other, which, being competent to try and punish him, demands the surrender.” Terlinden v. Ames, 184 U.S. 270, 289 (1902).

In the United States, 18 U.S.C. §3184 governs the procedure for the extradition of a fugitive from a foreign nation. Extradition is distinct from deportation, serving a different purpose. Fong Yue Ting v. U.S., 149 U.S. 698 (1893).