Humberto Alvarez-Machain

Dr. Humberto Alvarez-Machain, a Mexican physician, was allegedly involved in the 1985 abduction, torture, and murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena-Salazar by "prolonging Agent Camarena's life so that others could further torture and interrogate him." (United States v. Alvarez-Machain, 504 U.S. 655, 657 (1992)). Dr. Machain was later abducted from Mexico by DEA agents and brought to trial in the United States over the protest of Mexican officals. Legal action reached the United States Supreme Court (as above) focusing upon the effect of illegal extradition upon the trial court's jurisdiction. Invoking the "Ker-Frisbie Doctrine " the U.S. Supreme Court held that the trial court's jurisdiction was not affected by the manner in which the accused was brought before it. This created international alarm and concern as other nations feared that such would encourage further such abductions.

Dr. Machain then sought civil tort relief against the United States and a Mexican national (a Mr. Sosa). Again the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court (124 S. Ct. 2739) and in a controversial decision the court held that The Federal Tort Claims Act 's exception to waiver of sovereign immunity for claims “arising in a foreign country,” 28 U.S.C. § 2680(k), bars claims based on any injury suffered in a foreign country, regardless of where the tortious act or omission occurred and that Dr. Machain was not entitled to recover damages from Sosa under the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. §1350.