US laws" in helping them. "The notion that the Saudi government actively helps citizens evade justice after they have been implicated in legal wrongdoing in the US is simply not true," he said. He did not respond to questions about how a series of Saudi students had managed to return home while facing criminal charges in the United States.

The Trump administration has deflected calls for an accounting of the Saudi government's role in the flight of fugitives, asserting that there is little the United States can do because it has no extradition treaty with the kingdom. This week, the State Department said for the first time that it has raised the issue with senior Saudi officials, but it would not specify when or how.

"The US government takes thisseriously," said a State Department spokeswoman, who would only respond to ProPublica's questions on condition of anonymity.

There were more than 20 cases since 1988 in which Saudis have fled from legal troubles in the United States and Canada

The repeated flight of Saudi students from US justice was revealed in a series of recent articles in The Oregonian/OregonLive, with which ProPublica is now collaborating to report on the issue. Those articles have identified more than 20 cases since 1988 in which Saudis have fled from legal troubles — before and often after being charged with crimes — in the United States and Canada. The extent of the Saudi government's role in helping such fugitives and the fact that US national security agencies have long known of it have not