Free Republic

The family of imprisoned Border Patrol agent Ignacio Ramos was the victim of an attempted hit on their lives this month, as the agent's wife says someone broke into their home and filled it with gas, trashing photographs and pummeling their dog.

Mr. Bush, please listen to your federal prosecutor who doggedly tracked down a convicted drug smuggler in Mexico to convict Border Agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos for allegedly over-zealously shooting at the smuggler after a car chase and then a foot sprint back across the border. To many supporters of the Border Patrol, Prosecutor Sutton himself was guilty of overzealousness in pursuing a criminal conviction of these agents. But this is what Sutton says about the two agents rotting in prison after two years separation from wives, children, parents and life (with nearly a decade still to serve): I...

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, made a final plea this week to President George Bush to commute the sentences of jailed U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. “Because of the excesses of the prosecution against them, they will continue to sit alone in those cells for another decade,” Cornyn wrote, according to a report in the WorldNetDaily. “That is unless President Bush commutes their unjust sentences. In his remaining days as president, I ask President Bush to show mercy and use his clemency power to give back Agents Ramos and Compean the next 10 years of their lives.”

The U.S. Department of Justice has been opened a file on imprisoned U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean and a commutation of their sentences is under review, the office of agency pardon attorney Ronald L. Rodgers confirmed to WND. Rodgers spoke directly about the case by telephone with Stephen J. Eichler, J.D., executive director of Jim Gilchrist's Minuteman Project Inc.. Sign WND's petition urging President Bush to free U.S. Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. Eichler initially called the DOJ pardon attorney's office to discuss the prospect of a presidential pardon for Ramos and Compean....

Monica Ramos and Patty Compean still have hope. It is the slim hope that President Bush will, in his administration's final hours, commute the sentences of their husbands. Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, two former Border Patrol agents, were sentenced to 11 and 12 years in prison, respectively, in October 2006 in the nonfatal shooting of a now-convicted Mexican drug smuggler. They have been in federal prison since January 2007. The convictions of the two men led to an outcry across the nation, and nearly a half-million signatures were collected for a presidential pardon. The notoriety of the...

President Bush has extensively discussed his immigration reform policy in exit interviews and given a $60,000 bonus to a Border Patrol chief who has been criticized for not supporting Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean – but he refuses to talk about whether pardons could be in store for the imprisoned agents. In a Jan. 6 interview with John Gizzi, political editor of Human Events, Bush said he regrets that the comprehensive immigration bill he endorsed did not prevail. "Well, I'm sorry it didn't pass, because I felt strongly that the comprehensive approach to immigration reform was necessary for border enforcement,...

What many people may not realize is that all too often, leaders of agencies are actually non-elected politicians. Someone once said that if you put more than two people together, you wind up with a political system. In order to ascend the chain of command in any organization, often the person who winds up at the top of the pyramid is the person who has demonstrated the willingness to "go along to get along." Apparently the chief of the Border Patrol is such an individual. Virtually from his very first day in office, President George W. Bush made it clear...

When an old high school buddy offered Francisco Zavala money to be the driver on what he knew was a drug run, Zavala agreed. "It sounded like easy money to me," Zavala, 23, testified Wednesday in Pima County Superior Court. But it turned out not to be such a good deal. Fifteen minutes after Vincent Valenzuela, Andre Mays and Netzahualcoyotl Ramos went into a house on West Calle Colado, Zavala, who was waiting in the car, heard gunshots ring out, Zavala testified. All three men came running out, looking "very scared," Zavala said. Zavala was the first witness to testify...

Many of us have been contacting President Bush, over and over again, to pardon or commute the sentences of Ramos and Compean. Davila, the drug dealer got less time than our border patrol agents. The families of these men are suffering, as well as the men. So let's contact VP Cheney and ask him to use his influence and hopefully convince Bush to let these men go free! Here's his email: Vice President Richard Cheney: vice_president@whitehouse.gov If you're a good talker, call talk shows and get radio listeners to contact President Bush, and VP Cheney.

The U.S. Border Patrol has reportedly apprehended nearly 6,000 illegal immigrants in Green Valley since October of 2007, down from nearly 8,000 in the previous fiscal year. “Green Valley is much better than it was a year ago,” said Mario Escalante, a Border Patrol spokesman who explained that the numbers reflect increased enforcement in the area. Still, many in the community think that number is alarmingly high, especially because it does not include surrounding cities such as Sahuarita, Amado or Tubac — only Green Valley. One of them is Kelly Walter, a Green Valley resident and staff member of the...

U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Lehigh Valley, today is sending a letter to President Bush, urging the outgoing president to pardon two former Border Patrol agents who are in prison for shooting a drug smuggler. Dent wrote that the two agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, "were acting in fulfillment of their duty and responsibility to protect our borders and enforce the law, and they have been unjustly punished for their actions." Though Dent's congressional district is hundreds of miles away from the Mexican border, the congressman has taken an interest in border-related issues because he sits on the House...

Tuesday, President George W. Bush granted pardons to 19 people and commuted the sentence of one person, according to the Justice Department -- but the names of two jailed Border Patrol agents were conspicuously absent. Thus ended any hopes of a Christmas commutation of sentence for Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean in the shooting case of Mexican drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila. The president left the White House today for the Christmas holiday at the presidential retreat at Camp David. According to a Bloomberg report, however, President Bush could issue more presidential acts of clemency. The White House “didn’t rule out...

President George W. Bush today added a convicted methamphetamine dealer, a cocaine distributor and two marijuana suppliers to the list of drug operators he's pardoned while in office, bringing his total of drug suppliers who have been pardoned or had their sentences commuted to 36. He's also pardoned more than a dozen thieves, seven embezzlers, an arsonist, several mail thieves, a man who violated the Neutrality Act and eight Thanksgiving turkeys, but there's been no clemency for U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who were convicted of shooting at a fleeing drug smuggler. Andy Ramirez, of Friends...

The only hope left for U.S. Border Agents Nacho Ramos and Ignacio Compean is a Presidential pardon. Without it, they are destined to serve out their decade long sentences for attempting to prevent a drug smuggler from illegally crossing our border… Ramos and Compean are Depending on You! Grassfire is urging ALL members of our team to take immediate action—faxing President Bush, the Office of the Pardon Attorney, your two Senators, and Representative, demanding Ramos and Compean are pardoned and returned to their families. Because we want to keep a sustained effort right through George Bush’s final day in office,...

For over two and a half years, the unjust prosecution and imprisonment of U.S. Border Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean has weighed heavy on the hearts and minds of millions of Americans.

“Even if the Supreme Court reverses this injustice done to Ramos and Compean, they could expect to sit in jail for upwards of another two years — for a crime that was impossible for them to commit,” GOF officials concede. . . said Steve Elliott, president of Grassfire.org Alliance in a recent press release. “So we’re joining a move calling for a commutation of their sentences in an effort to have these men freed and returned to their families as soon as possible.”

"They were simply doing their job." That's what Rep. Tom Tancredo said about Border Patrol Agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos, with regards to the non-fatal shooting incident that has landed them with more than a decade of prison time each. In early 2005 Compean and Ramos, in the course of their duties, came across a truck carrying a load of marijuana. Osvaldo Adrete Avila was shot in his sitter as he tried to flee the scene.

Drug smugglers opened fire on federal agents late Monday night near Douglas during a drug bust. Agents from the U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement spotted two large trucks, a Chevrolet Avalanche and a Ford F-150, using ramps to drive over an approximately 8-foot border fence about 10:30 p.m. some five miles west of Douglas on James Ranch Road, said Mike Scioli, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. As agents approached the trucks, the drug smugglers turned around and tried to flee back into Mexico. But, agents threw down tire spikes, stopping both trucks north of the international line....

“The fact that the president has neglected to free these men from their imprisonment while freeing drug dealers, embezzlers and other criminals is insulting to the American people. For the sake of justice, let’s hope this is not the last round of pardons and commutations.” - Congressman Dana Rohrabacher Apparently some in the Bush Administration believe drug dealers, tax evaders and bank embezzlers are deserving of pardons...... but former Border Patrol Agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos - serving a combined 23 years for what Congressman Tom Tancredo described as "doing their jobs" - don't even deserve the time of...