Duane 'Dog' Chapman is famous for his reality based bounty hunter TV program. In 2003 he apprehended convicted serial-rapist and bail-jumper Andrew Luster in Mexico after Luster had evaded U.S. law enforcement for over six months. Luster was subsequently returned to the US and sentenced to 124 years in jail.

Now Chapman himself is under arrest by US Marshals in his own country. Bounty hunting is illegal in Mexico, even if an American Bounty Hunter apprehends an American criminal on the run from US law enforcement, apparently. Chapman and his group were arrested in Mexico for kidnapping three years ago after they took down Luster. They each posted $1,500 bail and then returned to the US, figuring (one assumes) that no one would enforce any Mexican warrants due to the nature of the situation.

Wrong!

Mexico now wants Chapman and his bounty hunting squad returned to Mexico to face charges of Kidnapping and somehow... in the bizarre world in which we now live, the corrupt government of Mexico has convinced our own government to honor their warrants for Chapman and his group. It appears they miss the convicted rapist (who was from a very wealthy family, by the way... with lots of money to bribe local officials) who Chapman removed from their country.

The real question here is WHY WOULD US FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES AGREE TO ARREST CHAPMAN ON A MEXICAN WARRANT??? Chapman broke no American laws and in fact rendered great assistance to American law enforcement by arresting the rapist.

Mexico has always been, and remains one of the most corrupt countries on the face of the planet. Arrests are made routinely in Mexico so the Police Officers can make money by accepting bribes to release the individual arrested. Mexico also has a long history of ignoring the rights of American citizens and failing to act when American citizens are robbed, abducted or killed in Mexico. There are many examples of this but two stand out among the endless incidents in recent years.

One was the murder of a Snohomish County (WA) Sheriff and his entire family while they were on vacation in Mexico in their motor home. No action was ever taken on that by Mexican officials. It remains an unsolved murder that no one in our own government is pressuring Mexico to solve.

Another was the abduction and torture-murder of DEA agent Kiki Camerina. Kiki was on undercover assignment in Mexico working to identify drug lords, supposedly with the support of Mexican Law Enforcement authorities. Kiki was tortured for an entire week under the supervision of a medical doctor who brought Kiki back from the verge of death numerous times just so he could be tortured again and again before he was finally allowed to die. The doctor was identified by American law enforcement but despite numerous requests from the top levels of American government, Mexico refused to hand him over. They DID agree to hand over the horribly mutilated body of Kiki though. Our own government has decided to bury their head in the sand on this one as well.

So here we are again... shooting ourselves in the foot to assist a corrupt government (Mexico) while we stand by and take it when that government ignores similar requests for assistance from us.

I love America, but I do NOT love what our government does sometimes. Chapmen and his group did our government a favor by arresting Luster at great risk to their own lives. They are heroes, not criminals. I am myself, a retired law enforcement officer but I have to say that the US Federal Judge in Honolulu who signed the arrest warrant for Chapman and those US Marshals who arrested Chapman should be ashamed of themselves. This is NOT what the America I love is all about.

Yes, I know... Chapman's Bounty Hunter TV show is considered rather distasteful to a good chunk of the American audience. I train bounty hunters (Bail Enforcement Agents) from time to time and I can tell you none of them looks or acts like Dog and his group. But it is a TV show and they do what it takes to capture their target audience along with the bad guys. This has nothing to do with a TV show though. This is a moral, nation-defining issue and an opportunity for our own government to take a stand that will send a message to our neighbor to the south that we are not wimps.

Chapman and his associates are now out on bail in Hawaii and fighting extradition to Mexico. We all need to call or write every US State Department official or congressman we can to get this extradition stopped.

Those are my opinions, for what they are worth. Do you agree or disagree?