In a message dated 7/13/2004 3:24:29 PM US Mountain Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
The US has only the right to arrest a foreign citizen a) if that person violates US Law or b) if there is an international arrest warrant out for that person. So we are back to Carson's question: what US Law did Manuel Arias violate. And if he was arrested _before_ he entered the USA, that is before he passed immigration, The US (again) violated international law. According to the article he pled to putting inaccurate labels on plants coming into the United States. Whether he actually did anything wrong is another question, and I think it is good to be highly skeptical about anything the government does. However, the United States, and probably most other countries, have laws against deceiving its customs officers. One such law is the Lacey act. There are probably other laws against trying to mislead customs officers as well. I don't believe that the Lacey Act is good, but I don't understand how it is imperialistic. It seems to me that it says to other countries, make whatever laws you want about your plants and animals. If someone violates your laws and tries to bring the plant or animal into the United States, we will respect your laws and treat that person as a criminal just as you would. As for whether arresting someone before passing through customs violates international law, you ought to tell us what that law is. I don't know international law, but it seems to me that arresting someone after landing but before customs or letting them pass customs and then arresting them is a meaningless distinction, since you could just let everyone through and avoid the problem. You have chastised people for speaking about taxonomy without knowing the details, so you should hold yourself to a similar standard in addressing this issue, and quote the law so we can discuss it meaningfully.
_______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids
