August 17, 2006

Ramos/Compean case: Bonner responds; Hostettler, Sensenbrenner will look into it

From this:

Republican congressmen said today they would call for an investigation into why two U.S. Border Patrol agents were prosecuted then convicted this year of shooting a drug-smuggling suspect and trying to cover it up.

They were in El Paso for a House Judiciary Committee field hearing on immigration, one of about a dozen such hearings around the country this month.

Indiana U.S. Rep. John Hostettler, a member of the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims, pledged to take up the case of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean. They were convicted in March on several felonies and a civil rights violation.

Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, the Wisconsin Republican whose House bill calls for the criminalization of illegal immigrants and other immigration enforcement reforms, called for an investigation into the case.

Several other House members, including Democrat Silvestre Reyes, who led the El Paso Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol before being elected to Congress, also agreed to support a probe...

From this:

[National Border Patrol Council - a union that represents agents -] President T.J. Bonner said exonerating evidence was withheld during the March trial of Senior Agents Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos and Jose A. Compean, whose sentencing is set for Tuesday, adding that the agents followed long-established Border Patrol policies in the incident.

He also said the suspect fled into Mexico after the shooting but later was given immunity on drug-smuggling charges to testify against the agents.

"This thing stinks to high heaven," Mr. Bonner said. "I am outraged and at a loss to explain why there were so many irregularities in this case. The only thing that is clear is that the prosecutors pointed their guns at the wrong guys, the good guys, and they let the bad guy walk. Now they want to send these agents to prison for doing their job...

"Fire the DA, angry readers write of border agents case" has the thoughts of Daily Bulletin readers.

And, "U.S. Attorney Protects Mexican Invaders" has some of the legal background.

Related: "Petition seeks pardon for agents"

Posted to Immigration at August 17, 2006 11:38 PM

Comments

If you can't get away with emptying the prisons,try opening the borders to foreign criminals, and selectively so.
Make it a crime for border agents to do their jobs, then say the border is metaphysically uncontrollable.
When you have enough foreign hostiles starting warfare here, declare dictatorship as the only possible form of governance.

Posted by: John S Bolton at August 18, 2006 02:43 AM