Would you like a few thousand dollars for just arresting someone? Certainly anyone would, especially if who you're arresting committed horrible crimes like murder, rape and every other horrific crime in between.

Well, apparently this job pays off very well. But it's not as easy as it may sound since many states in the U.S. have their own laws regarding this type of profession, which in at least 8 states bounty hunters are heavily regulated or banned, but California is not one of these states, so those who choose to jump bail must feel at least somewhat protected.

Now if it's hard enough in the U.S., how about in the international level? Well in most countries if not in all, bounty hunting is illegal.

Let's take Mexico for example, according to Gilberto Manjarez who is an attorney and law professor at the Autonomous University of Baja California; in Mexico there is no justice system that recognizes any bails system from any other country.

You can actually be charged with kidnapping under Fraction XXI of Article 73 of the Political Constitution of the United States of Mexico, which the reform adds and repeals various provisions of the Federal Code of Criminal Procedures, and has a prison term of between 15-70 years depending on the circumstances.

Remember the A&E reality T.V. show star, Duane "Dog the bounty hunter" Chapman?

In 2003 he was arrested in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, for going after and arresting convicted sex offender rapist Andrew Luster, which charges against Chapman were dismissed later on because of "technicalities" (statute of limitations expired on the case), and if not for that chapman would be sitting in jail right at this moment.

Interestingly enough there has been another case, where in the U.S. back in 1990 a Mexican physician Humberto Alvarez Machain, was brought upon the United States District Court in Los Angeles, for the alleged involvement of the kidnapping and murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena Salazar, which Alvarez was acquitted, due to insufficient evidence and the fact that DEA agents had hired Mexican nationals to kidnap Alvarez(illegal extradition), who was brought to El Paso, Texas, where he was arrested by federal agents.

Now how Alvarez get to Texas? DEA claims it was through a private jet, and could it be just like the small planes that have been found abandoned in Mexicali in the past few years?

The DEA has always denied offering a $100,000 dollar reward for the capture of Alvarez, which in a turn of events Alvarez in 1993 according to court documents, Alvarez sued the United States and four DEA agents, in which the judge ruled in his favor and awarded him $25,000 dollars.

Illegal immigrants are not the only ones being crossed across the border in a trunk of a car or in tunnels. This type of bounty hunting has been going on for decades, where bounty hunters "risk it" and go after fugitives with a nice price tag, in which then all of a sudden the fugitive finds himself facing a judge.

How do they get across the border? Certainly not awake and in a passenger seat. But this is not the type of news you can find on your favorite 10p.m. news channel.

Whether these criminals are guilty or not, is it even worth the risk of going into another country?

Omar.Martinez@sandiegored.com