18 U.S.C. § 3186
Section 3186 · Secretary of State to surrender fugitive
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 60 court decisions — leading case Quinn v. Robinson (1986)
Most recently applied in Lalama Gomez v. United States (June 2025)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The Secretary of State may order the person committed under sections 3184 or 3185 of this title to be delivered to any authorized agent of such foreign government, to be tried for the offense of which charged.
Such agent may hold such person in custody, and take him to the territory of such foreign government, pursuant to such treaty.
A person so accused who escapes may be retaken in the same manner as any person accused of any offense.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §653 (R.S. §5272).
Changes were made in phraseology and surplusage was deleted.