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Not a pardonable offense (Border Patrol Barf Alert)
San Diego tribune ^ | 02/10/2007 | Ruben Navarrette

Posted on 02/10/2007 2:05:41 PM PST by TheeOhioInfidel

For an agent of the Mexican government, Johnny Sutton speaks pretty good English.

That's the title anti-immigrant zealots hung on the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas after prosecutors in his office convicted ex-Border Patrol agents Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos of shooting 15 times at an unarmed suspect who was running away.

Sentenced to 12 years and 11 years in prison, the former agents are behind bars.

Because the defendants were once Border Patrol agents and because the convictions relied on testimony from the victim - a Mexican drug smuggler who got immunity - the prosecutors have become absolutely toxic in the minds of those who think an invasion is under way and that Border Patrol agents are the sentries against the tide.

Hence the accusation by some that Sutton - along with his bosses, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President Bush - has become an agent of the Mexican government.

"We just evaluate the facts," Sutton said. "We don't get to choose the facts. We don't get to choose the witnesses. We just have to decide whether a crime was committed and whether it's appropriate that it be prosecuted."

According to the evidence presented at the trial, including the agents' testimony and their statements after the incident, here are the facts.

On Feb. 17, 2005, about 1 p.m., Compean and Ramos were on duty along the U.S.-Mexico border when they observed a suspicious vehicle - a van that turned out to be loaded with 700 pounds of marijuana.

The driver - later identified as Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila - jumped out of the vehicle and tried to run back into Mexico.

Ramos and Compean testified they made a point of looking at the suspect's hands and saw no weapon. Compean fired at least 14 rounds and Ramos fired once.

Ramos wounded the suspect and saw him limp into Mexico. The agents collected the shell casings and filed false reports, trying to cover up the incident.

The case has become a cause célèbre for radio talk-show hosts, anti-immigrant groups, congressional Republicans, Minuteman vigilantes and cable television talkers with a knack for turning ranting into ratings.

The convictions also have been sucked into the wind tunnel of the immigration debate and turned Republican hard-liners into bleeding hearts.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, wrote a resolution demanding that Bush pardon Compean and Ramos.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, has called Bush a "disgrace" and someone who is "on the side of our enemies."

Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Solana Beach - who used to be a lobbyist for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a nativist organization that wants to limit even legal immigration - quipped that, since Bush wants amnesty for 12 million illegal immigrants, he should simply add two more names to the list.

Basically, Bilbray lumped together former Border Patrol agents with illegal immigrants. What would the two have in common? Only Spanish surnames.

Apparently, you can take the congressman out of the nativist group but you can't take the nativism out of the congressman.

I asked Sutton about the insistence by some that this case illustrates the contempt the Bush administration has for border security and the Border Patrol.

"I don't take it too seriously," he said. "I'm a federal prosecutor in charge of prosecuting drugs and immigration for 660 miles of Mexican-Texas border. I'm in the business of locking up illegal aliens who come across and drug smugglers who come across, and so I work with Border Patrol day in and day out."

Sutton said he has a lot of respect for the Border Patrol and its responsibilities.

"They do have a very, very hard job," he said. "And 99.9 percent of them are out there doing it right, abiding by the rules in these very stressful situations, and they're doing just fine. But when you're in those kinds of high-stress situations, you can make big mistakes."

By all accounts, these agents made big mistakes. The same goes for those who are shamelessly using this sad case to advance their own agendas.

"It's just so rare that you have a situation like this," Sutton said. "But (Border Patrol agents) are human beings, and sometimes, just like anyone else, they're going to step over the line, and if they commit crimes, just like everybody else, they're not above the law."

Bush has said he will examine the case and determine if a pardon is warranted.

It isn't.

Navarrette is a columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune. His e-mail address is ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections; US: California; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: aliens; bologna; border; borderagents; borderpatrol; immigrantlist; immigration; pardonamericanheroes; rubennavarrette; wod
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To: F.J. Mitchell

Wow! What on earth did you learn about morals? I guess you believe it is ok to lie. Why are you here?


41 posted on 02/10/2007 4:01:52 PM PST by napscoordinator
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To: dennisw

Then what would you have done to the liars? Fire them? I agree that perhaps the drug smugglers should have been arrested too, but they were not caught before they fleed to Mexico. I think had the guys not lied to the investigators they would most likely not be in jail and in this kind of trouble. Please tell me you don't have any morals. It is a wonder why America has gone down in regards to right and wrong.


42 posted on 02/10/2007 4:05:04 PM PST by napscoordinator
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To: RJL
I agree with you. The drug smugglers wounds, assuming he received any this side of the border,IMHO were on a par with the rice grain wounds to the cheeks of John Kerry's @$$ for which he received one of his purple hearts.

I just wanted to get that fact about how Gov employees who carry weapons are always trained to police up the brass after firing their weapons, for all those who see this act as evidence they were trying to cover up a crime.

I see what is happening to Ramos and Compean for daring to do their job,as an example of the power wielded by the border scum on both sides of the Rio Grande. The fact that these gentlemen have been imprisoned in places where they are least likely to survive, has rational people wondering just how high up the ladder of influence has drug money bought the drug cartels?
43 posted on 02/10/2007 4:09:02 PM PST by F.J. Mitchell (Democrats: Too dumb to lead, too vain to follow, too egotistical to get the hell out of the way!)
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To: napscoordinator
From what I heard, the supervisors and other agents knew about the incident, and it was the supevisors who didn't file a report. And apparently (someone can correct this if it's wrong) the supervisors are the ones who are supposed to file a report.

You can read more about it here. Scroll down and read what the account written by Joe Loya, the father-in-law of one of the agents.

44 posted on 02/10/2007 4:12:03 PM PST by incindiary
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To: napscoordinator
Then what would you have done to the liars? Fire them? 

At the most

I agree that perhaps the drug smugglers should have been arrested too, but they were not caught before they fleed to Mexico. I think had the guys not lied to the investigators they would most likely not be in jail and in this kind of trouble. Please tell me you don't have any morals. 

My morals are this:
Deport illegal aliens. Put Mexican drug dealers in prison. That's what the US Attorney should be doing. Instead he blows his limited resources on prosecuting Border Patrol agents

It is a wonder why America has gone down in regards to right and wrong.

That's exactly what I think about George Bush's open borders policies and refusal to enforce identity theft laws and immigration laws

45 posted on 02/10/2007 4:14:49 PM PST by dennisw (What one man can do another can do -- "The Edge")
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To: napscoordinator

"Why are you here?"

Because I want to be here, for one thing. But mostly because I know the difference between a liar and a damned liar.


46 posted on 02/10/2007 4:14:56 PM PST by F.J. Mitchell (Democrats: Too dumb to lead, too vain to follow, too egotistical to get the hell out of the way!)
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To: dennisw

Well I am with you in regards to the border. I am waiting for this fence that the Republicans passed last year and the group that was given money to build a fence. Nothing is happening except for a lot of large bank accounts.


47 posted on 02/10/2007 4:17:36 PM PST by napscoordinator
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To: F.J. Mitchell

I don't teach my kids that there is a difference. It could be that you are I don't know but from what I see now adays most people feel more to your feelings than mind sadly.


48 posted on 02/10/2007 4:18:37 PM PST by napscoordinator
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To: napscoordinator

Except that version of the story has turned out to be quite the "BIG LIE"
(there were 7 agents and 2 supervisors in the immediate area when the incident happened)


49 posted on 02/10/2007 4:19:41 PM PST by xcamel (Press to Test, Release to Detonate)
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To: org.whodat
I am convinced that Ramos and Compean are innocent.
50 posted on 02/10/2007 4:20:50 PM PST by F.J. Mitchell (Democrats: Too dumb to lead, too vain to follow, too egotistical to get the hell out of the way!)
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To: ItisaReligionofPeace
If the facts are as reported above, I'd saw there was criminal intent.

But of course, those aren't the facts.

51 posted on 02/10/2007 4:21:57 PM PST by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
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To: xcamel

Then they need to get the story out in the news and to the President. I am only commenting on what I know from reading on FR. I don't watch the news much except Foxnews and you know they have been going left lately.


52 posted on 02/10/2007 4:23:43 PM PST by napscoordinator
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To: napscoordinator
I guess you believe it is ok to lie.

Well, if this story is correct, some people do.

53 posted on 02/10/2007 4:26:08 PM PST by michigander (The Constitution only guarantees the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.)
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To: napscoordinator
Why did they do this???? This is probably the reason they are in jail and most likely the reason they have not been pardoned yet. I just don't like the idea they covered it up. Am I alone in this bothering me?

Hopefully you are alone in using twisted half-truths from Ruben Navarrette as a source for reaching any conclusion.

Oh, and did they do that? No. Ramos filed no report and picked up no shell casings. The answer relative to Compean is more complex and would take more time than I am willing to devote here -- do some research.

54 posted on 02/10/2007 4:27:58 PM PST by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
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To: oldtimer

>>The National Gaurd is running away from the armed criminals, because they can't defend themselves.<<

If we had a real President, this wouldn't be happening.


55 posted on 02/10/2007 4:31:47 PM PST by SerpentDove (Remember that old joke, "Karl Rove is a genius"?)
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To: calcowgirl

Twisted???? This is an article on Free Republic. What the heck are you talking about. I read the article and it said they covered up information. Send me ALL of your information on this story and I will make a better conclusion for you. Don't start going off on me because I am giving an opinion I have from this article. This is Free Republic and this is what we do and how it works. I don't know why you are upset because I was giving information on a person I never heard of before and how the heck am I to know if he is one of us or not. I am just concerned that you are just blasting me because you don't agree with what I said and feel a bit guilty.


56 posted on 02/10/2007 4:37:35 PM PST by napscoordinator
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To: Spunky

Ruben is doing the same thing the prosecutors have been doing--using detailed small facts to paint a story that is not true.


It's like saying "a driver was sitting in his automobile with his hands on the wheel and then the highway patrol officer shot him," leaving out the actions in between where said driver pulls out gun and shoots at the officer.


57 posted on 02/10/2007 4:43:27 PM PST by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
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To: calcowgirl

Calcowgirl,
I am going to bed. Almost 2 a.m. I can discuss this again with you in the morning. Have a good night!


58 posted on 02/10/2007 4:44:47 PM PST by napscoordinator
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To: RJL

The reports I've seen say that when he was on the Mexico side of the river, it appeared he was limping, or walking slowly.


59 posted on 02/10/2007 4:46:32 PM PST by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
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To: napscoordinator
You are persistent, aren't you?

After 74 years of observing the human race, I have picked up somewhat of a knack for pretty well recognizing the difference between a lie and the truth.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that a drug runner driving a van load of drugs into America in hopes of turning "your own" truth telling children into dope addicts, would lie, steal, cheat and kill for the privilege of enriching himself by continuing doing so.

As for the children you have trained to always tell the truth, that lesson goes down the toilet once the dealer has his way and they are hooked on consuming illegal substances.

Ramos and Compean were on your side. Their lives were dedicated to keeping drug dealing scum away from your children, so they live within the law and never need to lie to protect their source of illegal substance.

You need to be more careful when choosing sides.

That's the truth, do you recognize it?
60 posted on 02/10/2007 4:56:17 PM PST by F.J. Mitchell (Democrats: Too dumb to lead, too vain to follow, too egotistical to get the hell out of the way!)
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