Posted on 02/07/2007 6:50:20 AM PST by yoe
Shortly after a segment on the popular show "America's Most Wanted" Saturday featured the story of two Border Patrol agents imprisoned for shooting a Mexican suspected drug dealer, one of the agents was badly assaulted by fellow inmates in his Mississippi prison.
Ignacio Ramos had been preparing to go to bed at the Federal Correctional Complex in Yazoo City, Miss., when four inmates attacked him, kicked him in the head, the side and the shoulders with steel-toed boots, Ramos' attorney David Botsford told Cybercast News Service.
The incident has fueled calls from members of Congress for President Bush to pardon Ramos, 38, and fellow agent Jose Alonso Compean, 30. The two were sentenced to 12 and 11 years imprisonment respectively for shooting the suspected drug smuggler.
Even before the beating occurred, some lawmakers said they feared for the safety of the two men in prison.
"The president said he would give the situation with the border agents a sober look," Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) told Cybercast News Service Tuesday. "I hope he does so as quickly as possible. Their lives are in danger."
Bush said he would consider pardoning the two agents after he reviewed the case. However, there is growing impatience with some Republican House members that were openly critical of a president of their own party.
"I'm so upset with this White House, I don't know what to do," Jones said. "The president needs to move on this pardon, particularly since the assault on agent Ramos."
The prison assault is the latest twist in a case that began as a border incident in El Paso, Texas and sparked a political firestorm in Washington.
Much of the outrage from the case resulted from the fact that U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton offered an immunity deal to the suspected drug smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila - shot in the buttocks by Ramos - to be the chief witness in prosecuting the agents.
Sutton has since confirmed that the Justice Department is investigating Aldrete-Davile for a subsequent drug charge.
Sutton noted that the agents not only shot an unarmed man while he was fleeing toward the Mexican border, but also tried to cover up the crime by disposing of their shell casings and not reporting the incident to their supervisor.
Prison guards apparently not stop did the weekend prison assault. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Ramos first reported the beating to prison staff at 10:15 PM.
Staff evaluated him and found bruises and cuts, but no serious injuries. Prison officials placed Ramos is a special housing unit pending an investigation of the incident. The four men who assaulted Ramos were also segregated from the prison population, the bureau said.
The Ramos family did not know about the assault until late Monday, when wife Monica and their children contacted him in prison to wish him Happy Birthday on his 38th birthday.
The Bureau of Prisons works hard to protect the safety of prisoners and is investigating the assault, said spokeswoman Traci Billingsley.
"The assault occurred immediately following the airing of a television show that described Mr. Ramos' case," she said in a statement. "It is regrettable that Mr. Ramos was assaulted and the Bureau of Prisons will take appropriate actions to determine an appropriate housing status to ensure his ongoing safety."
Since airing the program, "America's Most Wanted" has received hundreds of phone calls and e-mails expressing sympathy for the border agents, according to the show's website.
The Ramos family could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Compean family Compean family requested that Compean remain in isolation away from the general prison population at a federal prison in Elkton, Ohio.
The family said in a statement that it was the choice of the prisoners whether to stay in isolation or be placed with the general prison population.
"Being a law enforcement officer, especially knowing they are Border Patrol agents, only adds to the threat and danger they face while in prison," the family said in a statement. "That is why they cannot be out of isolation."
The Friends of the Border Patrol, an advocacy group, is asking Congress to investigate why the prisoners were able to wear steel-toed boots, which could be used as weapons. It also wanted to know where the guards were when the attack began.
The beating indicates a clear failure to protect agents, said Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas).
"It's just another reason why they ought to be pardoned," Poe told Cybercast News Service. "It's the duty of the prison people to protect all inmates. They didn't protect agent Ramos."
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) spoke with the family Monday and recounted some of the events in a statement. He used that same statement to blast the White House.
"Not only did the administration choose the side of a foreign dope dealer over the agents who stopped him from smuggling a load of drugs into the country - now they've failed to protect that agent while this case is on appeal," said Tancredo, who is running for the GOP 2008 presidential nomination on an immigration reform platform.
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bttt
25 posts in the last 24 hours
What a choice. Solitary or beatings.
I haven't weighed in on this case because I had seen so many differing reports, but now that they are in jail, and I have read many reports stating that DHS was less than honest and forthcoming, I really wish they would take a second look here. Something isn't right.
In English, this means that we will ensure that these agents spend their sentences in solitary confinement.
Considering our rage, not nearly enough.
Considering the fact that this nor the greater illegal immigration issue are going away, I suspect there will be a lot more of these threads.
Much of the outrage from the case resulted from the fact that U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton offered an immunity deal to the suspected drug smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila - shot in the buttocks by Ramos - to be the chief witness in prosecuting the agents.
Just go to google and read - something is more than wrong, it is criminal what the judge and the lawyer did to these two men. Those that beat Ramos are probably not American Citizens, they are most likely illegal Mexicans living well on the tax payer tit in jail......give them hard work for the next 50 years! Call Rick Perry and the White House, demand their pardon at once.
Make Perry look yew in the ahh and say, We could'a stopped it.
I thought dubya was going to pardon these agents. They should never had been convicted in the first place.
email sent
"Ignacio Ramos had been preparing to go to bed at the Federal Correctional Complex in Yazoo City, Miss., when four inmates attacked him, kicked him in the head, the side and the shoulders with steel-toed boots, Ramos' attorney David Botsford told Cybercast News Service."
One additional question I would have is, exactly why are inmates allowed to have "steel-toed boots" anyway?
My post was pulled. PHHTHTH...to the mods. Anyway...
From Glenn Beck's Radio Show: Homeland Security lied to Congress about the reasons that Border Guards were arrested in the first place. Said there were affadavits the guards were out for "hunting Mexicans." Nevermind that the Border Guards are of Hispanic descent.
When, during a hearing, a Congressman (who had been requesting the said affadavits for months) asked to see said affadavits HS said there NEVER WERE any affadavits.
You're surprised, right?
The Congressperson will be on Glenn's TV show tonight. Don't know who it is.
One additional question I would have is, exactly why are inmates allowed to have "steel-toed boots" anyway?
Just a guess but one possibility might be a very strict OSHA regulation that says that industrial workers must wear personal protective equipment; helmet, protection eye glasses, hearing protection and hard-toe shoes. If these guys had jobs that was covered by that law, they would have to wear protective shoes.
Government admits lying about jailed border agents (DHS fesses up - Rep. Poe ticked!)
A Department of Homeland Security official admitted today the agency misled Congress when it contended it possessed investigative reports proving Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean confessed guilt and declared they "wanted to shoot some Mexicans" prior to the incident that led to their imprisonment.The admission came during the testimony of DHS Inspector General Richard L. Skinner before the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, according to Michael Green, press secretary for Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas.
Culberson was questioning Skinner about a meeting DHS officials had Sept. 26 with him and three other Republican congressman from Texas, Reps. Ted Poe, Michael McCaul and Kenny Marchant.
SNIP
Seems to me like GWB is responsible for this
Is Johnny Sutton a GWB man?
To the bone.
So GWB is standing up for Sutton, rather than the agents, never mind the injustice?
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