The fatal hit-and-run of a Portland teen by a Saudi national who fled the country before his trial — likely with aid of the Saudi Arabian government — has triggered a federal crackdown on foreign officials found to subvert the U.S. justice system, according to U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden.
Oregon’s senior senator on Wednesday announced the new “Fallon Smart” rule, named after the 15-year-old Franklin High School student who was struck and killed on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard by a speeding car in 2016.
Under the rule, Wyden said, the State Department will revoke the visas of foreign officials who’ve assisted foreign nationals accused of crimes escape U.S. prosecution. The Oregon Democrat secured the provision weeks after he placed a hold on the nomination of Michael Ratney, President Joe Biden’s pick to serve as U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Wyden said he lifted his hold on Ratney’s nomination this week after the State Department committed to the new rule. The nomination on Wednesday cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“There is no way to bring Fallon back to her family and no punishment that will heal the suffering caused by her death, or the many others hurt by foreign nationals who fled the country after being charged with violent crimes,” Wyden said in a statement.
“The ‘Fallon Smart’ rule announced today sends a strong message that there is no place in our country for foreign officials who help criminal suspects evade the law.”
In his announcement, Wyden once again cited a 2019 investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive that found more than two dozen cases in which Saudi students studying in the U.S. vanished while facing felony charges including manslaughter and sex crimes.
Seven of the cases were in Oregon, including some involving Saudis who had surrendered their passports to authorities.
One of the suspects, 21-year-old Portland Community College student Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah, disappeared weeks before his 2017 trial in the death of Smart. He later resurfaced in Saudi Arabia, which does not share an extradition treaty with the U.S.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Marshals Service told The Oregonian/OregonLive that they believed Noorah was driven out of his Southeast Portland neighborhood in a black SUV and later used an illicit passport and private plane — both likely provided by the Saudi government — to flee.
The news publication later revealed a pattern of similar cases around the U.S. that spanned numerous states and a 30-year period, suggesting the Saudi government may have spent decades subverting the U.S. criminal justice system and leaving untold numbers of victims without recourse.
Over the last several years, Wyden and fellow U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley have urged both the Trump and Biden administrations to take action against the Saudi government, only to be repeatedly rebuffed.
Wyden said this week he intends to hold the State Department’s feet to the fire.
“I plan to closely watch the department’s implementation of the new policy to ensure there is real accountability for the foreign officials who prevented justice from being carried out in the manslaughter of Fallon Smart and other awful crimes across our country,” he said.
