INS ‘Hold’ Order Snags Mexican Businessman’s Latest Bid for Bail

A wealthy Mexican businessman who was accused of perjury in connection with the murder of a U.S. drug agent was thwarted once again Tuesday in his efforts to go free on bail.

On Tuesday morning, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Sept. 11 order of a lower court judge that Ruben Zuno Arce be freed on $200,000 bail pending a trial on perjury charges in Los Angeles.

In the afternoon, however, U.S. officials said Zuno, 59, the brother-in-law of former Mexican President Luis Echeverria, would not be freed while the Immigration and Naturalization Service has a “hold” on him as a suspected “drug trafficker.” He has denied the allegation.

Zuno’s defense lawyer, Edward Medvene, objected that there was “no earthly reason” for the INS to hold his client so they could then deport him to Mexico “when he’s willing to leave for Mexico tonight.”

But Assistant U.S. Atty. Adam Schiff said U.S. District Judge Robert M. Takasugi could order Zuno free on bail only in the Los Angeles charges and the judge agreed.

Medvene then filed a habeas corpus petition with Takasugi, asserting that it was unfair for the government to continue to hold his client. Takasugi took the motion under submission and Schiff indicated he would oppose it.

“It wouldn’t make sense for the INS to throw someone out of this country who is to be prosecuted criminally here,” Schiff said after leaving the hearing. “That’s not to say that the INS wouldn’t hold” a separate bail hearing in connection with its case. He said that was a decision for the immigration service.

INS officials in Los Angeles declined comment on the matter.

Medvene has asserted for weeks that the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles has acted improperly in its efforts to hold Zuno and he reiterated those charges Tuesday, calling the government’s conduct “outrageous.”

Schiff countered that the U.S. attorney’s office had done nothing inappropriate.

At one point Tuesday afternoon, it appeared that Zuno, who has been in custody 49 days, would be freed and could return to Mexico. However, Schiff became visibly upset and told Takasugi it was his understanding that Zuno was not to leave California while out on bail. Takasugi told Schiff he was mistaken.

Schiff then attempted unsuccessfully to get Takasugi to grant him a stay so he could take the issue of Zuno leaving the country to the appellate court.

As part of his effort to convince Takasugi that Zuno was a flight risk, Schiff stated for the first time in open court that Zuno had killed two men in Mexico in 1978 and that he had “fled to the U.S.” from Mexico at that time.

Schiff also asserted that Zuno is a flight risk because he is worth $2 million and is politically well-connected in Mexico.

Medvene countered by noting that Zuno had never been arrested or charged in the 1978 killings. In fact, he said, Zuno had not shot anyone. Rather, the lawyer said, Zuno’s bodyguard shot two men after they had tried to kill Zuno.

Left at President’s Request

Additionally, he said, Zuno left Mexico at the request of Jose Lopez Portillo, then the president of Mexico, “because of the extreme situation of violence” stemming from political turbulence in the country at the time.

Medvene said that Zuno’s father, who was the governor of the state of Jalisco, had been kidnaped and that Zuno had been the subject of “100 death threats.” He added that Zuno returned to Mexico when Lopez Portillo asked him to return.

Schiff retorted, “There would be no safer haven for this man than Mexico.”

But Takasugi denied Schiff’s plea to reconsider his decision that Zuno be allowed to leave the United States.

However, it then became clear that Zuno would not be freed Tuesday night because the INS continues to have a “hold” on him in San Antonio.

Zuno was originally arrested by INS agents in San Antonio on Aug. 9, shortly after entering the United States on a commercial flight. He was brought to Los Angeles on a warrant issued by a federal judge here as a material witness in the ongoing investigation of the February, 1985, murder of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena in Guadalajara.

In early September, U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie ordered Zuno released from federal custody, but Zuno was taken back to San Antonio to face INS charges there.

INS officials have said they would like to exclude him from the United States as a “narcotics trafficker,” a charge Zuno and his lawyers have denied and called outrageous.

Before that hearing could be held, a federal grand jury here indicted Zuno on three counts of perjury. The indictment states that he lied to the grand jury when he denied knowing Rafael Caro Quintero and Ernesto Fonesca Carrillo, two Mexican drug kingpins, both currently in jail in Mexico pending charges in the Camarena murder there.

Zuno has pleaded not guilty to the perjury charges and a trial is scheduled later this year.