Posted on 01/16/2007 11:00:57 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
Angry Republican congressman calls President Bush 'disgrace'
Amid protests and a flurry of last-minute efforts by congressmen, two border patrol agents are scheduled today to begin long prison sentences for shooting and wounding a Mexican drug smuggler who was given immunity to testify against them.
In an interview with WND, an angry Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., called President Bush a "disgrace" for refusing to pardon Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos, who were sentenced to 12 years and 11 years, respectively, in October. With hopes for a presidential pardon dwindling, the lawmakers had requested that Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez assist in a motion to keep the agents free on bond during the appeals process. But late yesterday, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso, Texas, ruled the men must surrender to federal marshals at 2 p.m. Central Time today.
"This is the worst betrayal of American defenders I have ever seen," Rohrabacher said of the president. "It's shameful this was done by someone who is in the Republican Party. He obviously thinks more about his agreements with Mexico than the lives of American people and backing up his defenders."
The California lawmaker charged the Bush administration has been playing a "cruel game." Initially, he said, officials insisted the agents could not be pardoned because they had not filled out the proper paperwork. But Rohrabacher told WND the White House did not explain to the public that the agents were being required – without justification, he contended – to first admit guilt.
Then, last Friday, presidential press secretary Tony Snow addressed the issue for the first time, arguing that prior to the shooting, the agents did not know if the smuggler, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, was an illegal, and they were unaware he had about 750 pounds of marijuana.
Compean and Ramos say the smuggler had a gun, but no weapon was found.
The agents, Snow said, "had received arms training the day before; that said, if you have an incident like this, you must preserve the evidence and you must report it promptly."
"Instead," Snow continued, "according to court documents, they went around and picked up the shell casings. Furthermore, they asked one of their colleagues also to help pick up shell casings. They disposed of them."
Rohrabacher argues that if the men did anything wrong, they should have simply received a reprimand, but instead they are being placed in the general prison population among hardened criminals where their lives may be at risk.
Ramos' attorney, Mary Stillinger, told the El Paso Times the men, both married with young children, may have to spend several weeks at the El Paso County Jail before being transported to a federal prison.
"Why does [President Bush] have to send these men to prison in order that his policy not be disrupted?" Rohrabacher asked San Diego radio host Roger Hedgecock after speaking with WND last night. "He talks about being a Christian, but he has shown no Christian charity."
Asked by WND for a response to Rohrabacher's remarks, White House spokesman Alex Conant deferred to Snows comments on the case.
Rohrabacher told WND he sees a serious residual result of the administration's handling of the agents.
"The word is out that the southern border is undefended," he said. "Border agents won't dare to draw their weapons, and the drug cartel will double their effort to drive a wedge in our border."
Rohrabacher said he has been disturbed by an "arrogant" lack of response from senior Justice Department and White House officials who have "shoved over" their inquiries to lower-level staff.
"I've never seen an administration that does it this way," he said. "In the past, if there is a senior member of Congress calling, it would require a call back directly from the administration official in question."
The Justice Department did not respond to WND's request for comment.
Bush has received a letter about the case from more than 50 Congress members, and yesterday an online petition by Grassfire.org with more than 225,000 signatures calling for a presidential pardon was delivered to the White House.
As WND has reported, a federal jury convicted Compean, 28, and Ramos, 37, in March after a two-week trial on charges of causing serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence and a civil rights violation.
Ramos is an eight-year veteran of the U.S. Naval Reserve and a former nominee for Border Patrol Agent of the Year.
According to the agents, Ramos responded Feb. 17, 2005, to a request for back-up from Compean, who noticed a suspicious van near the levee road along the Rio Grande River near the Texas town of Fabens, about 40 miles east of El Paso. A third agent also joined the pursuit.
Aldrete-Davila stopped the van on a levee, jumped out and started running toward the river. When he reached the other side of the levee, he was met by Compean who had anticipated the smuggler's attempt to get back to Mexico.
"We both yelled out for him to stop, but he wouldn't stop, and he just kept running," Ramos told California's Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.
"At some point during the time where I'm crossing the canal, I hear shots being fired," Ramos said. "Later, I see Compean on the ground, but I keep running after the smuggler."
At that point, Ramos said, Aldrete-Davila turned toward him, pointing what looked like a gun.
"I shot," Ramos said. "But I didn't think he was hit, because he kept running into the brush and then disappeared into it. Later, we all watched as he jumped into a van waiting for him. He seemed fine. It didn't look like he had been hit at all."
The U.S. government filed charges against Ramos and Compean after giving full immunity to Aldrete-Davila and paying for his medical treatment at an El Paso hospital.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas issued a statement in September arguing "the defendants were prosecuted because they had fired their weapons at a man who had attempted to surrender by holding his open hands in the air, at which time Agent Compean attempted to hit the man with the butt of Compean's shotgun, causing the man to run in fear of what the agents would do to him next."
The statement said, "Although both agents saw that the man was not armed, the agents fired at least 15 rounds at him while he was running away from them, hitting him once."
"This is the worst betrayal of American defenders I have ever seen"
From what I have read of this, I agree...
Rohrabacher is right. It is going to take a major explosion in this country before there is any serious attempt to defend the border.
"Bush has received a letter about the case from more than 50 Congress members, and yesterday an online petition by Grassfire.org with more than 225,000 signatures calling for a presidential pardon was delivered to the White House."
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Wow, that's a lot of response. I wonder what the White House is up to.???????
Bush is such a disappointment. Snow should not be defending this. It is a travesty, on a par with the Duke Lax case.
The agent that pulled the trigger would stand a better chance of pardon if he had killed an American in the process of law enforcement.
GWBush will go down in history as the only American president to allow, even encourage, a massive invasion by a third world dump without allowing a shot to be fired in our defense.
His absolute refusal to enforce immigration laws against Mexican invaders shows his contempt for America.
I get the impression that if this administration could send more border patrol agents to jail, it would.
The United States of Mexico or UsMex
All respect for Bush is gone, and the same for Gonzalez and the other federal officers who are railroading two brave border agents for doing their duty.
A federal agent sought out the drug dealer and offered him immunity to lie, then rewarded him by free medical treatment for the bullet he received in his buttocks while running from border agents?
Our government colluded with a Mexican illegal to build a case against Compean and Ramos? What kind of deal with Mexico caused federal officers to betray our border agents and throw them in prison to 'make an example' of them for not following exact protocol... A huge coverup? Why aren't we all calling the president and Republican senators, demanding a pardon, at least? This will bring Bush down further, because something is very wrong, and Tony Snow's explanation doesn't absolve the shame.
Nothing will happen.
It will be business as usual with Bush. People in Washington do not care at all. There might be a little grumbling from him, but nothing will happen overall.
ping
Wherever and whenever the borders and Mexico is concerned, all bets are off: our own border agents are punished for doing their jobs: this is exactly the profoundly disturbing kind of thing we have sadly come to expect from the State Department regarding the behavior of Americans overseas: they bend over backwards to kowtow to foreign governments, however dictatorial, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, whatever, and allow Americans to be imprisoned, harrassed, detained, and every other manner of punishment/ In THIS case, the lawbreaking SMUGGLER is made out to be the hero, and they use HIM to indict the Americans doing their jobs, and send THE AMERICANS to prison. A BIG stink should be made about this: the President should be given a time period to do something about this, and then..............?
can't say I am disappointed or have lost faith in Bush, because I never had much faith to begin with. In a related story, remember the time not long ago during a visit from Chinese "dignitaries" when the Chinese woman physician yelled from the back of the auditorium about the scandals
regarding the Falun Gong prisoners, who it is believed were being imprisoned, then killed so that their valuable organs and vital body parts could be harvested for the black market? She was hustled out, and muzzled at the request of none other than the C- in-C.
I would love to give Compean and Ramos free GPS guidance systems if they ever do escape from prison. I need to match the Mexican Governments assistance to their crimaliens.
I'm completely disgusted.
If we don't protect those who protect us, we're in deep trouble.
Prayers for these men and their families.
Mr. Hewitt, Your good friend Tony Snow (reference interview 1-11-07) is complicit in justifying yet another staggering injustice to the Border Patrol and promoting an Appeasement White House. This wrong on so many levels I can't even begin to describe how much bullshit this represents and, sadly, backed by Bush (I simply will not call him President under these circumstances). I have been a fan of Mr. Snow for some time but he has just crossed the line from Press Secretary to carrying the ACLU's/murdering Mexican felon's water. You know for a fact, if he had the balls he had 4 years ago he would have been screaming as loud as I am about this travesty. The bright lights and the presidential cache have made him one of the new castrati.
Mr. Hewitt, this is yet another example how how rich the hypocrisy and bereft of common sense the Bush Administration is on our "National Security". I am truly bewildered by the stone cold fact that we have our good men and women in the national security services dying to protect Iraq and sending them to jail protecting America.
Morning Glory...Evening Grace...
Since this administration hasn't stepped in....they have sent a huge message to the rest of the world.
The message is that we want you, we will not enforce our border and our sovereignty and we will help you to overthrow our laws.
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