Embassy or consulate abroad - can you be arrested by them?

Question

Hello,

My question is can my american friend living abroad be arrested in the abroad consulate or embassy if he is wanted in the U.S. for a felony (personal possession of drugs) if he goes to the consulate to renew his passport??

Thanks in advance, he wants to go back to the states to fix his probelm probably with prop 36 or some other drug program. its been 7 years since he has this charge and he got sentenced to one drug program but didn't complete it so he left the country.

Answer 1

YESSSSSSSSS. He can be and if they have the info on him he will be arrested on the spot

Answer 2

In theory yes.  The embassy is considered part of the US and its laws govern there.  In reality, I don't know if his legal problems will be accessible to the staff there.  Do you know if a warrant exists for your friend?  You might do better to contact an attorney back in the US and have him or her to do a bit of research.  They may be able to make sure he can renew his passport without hassle in order to return.

Answer 3

They will -not- arrest him. That completely oversteps their authority as a representation abroad. They may (in theory) not decline to issue him a passport, for the purpose of returning to the US. He is, after all, a US citizen and thus has the right of abode (to love in) (even if its in a jail) in the US. They may, however, issue him an extremely limited passport only valid for return to the US.

The local police -may or may not- arrest him, depending on the seriousness of his charge AND if extradition treaties exists at all with the country that you are in at the moment, and what conditions are attached to said treaties. If he got convicted for running around with a bit of weed, they probably wont care.

If he had a few pounds of weed on him though he may be in for a little bit of a rough ride.

Answer 4

If there's felony warrant out for him the embassy will NOT renew the passport.  If there's felony warrant out for him the embassy will have the local police arrest him and hold him until an extradition request has been issued or declined.

If the extradition is declined the locals will most likely process him for deportation back to the United States where the CBP Officer at the port of entry will make the arrest.