Posted on 02/06/2007 6:18:29 PM PST by calcowgirl
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.
WND previously reported that at that meeting the DHS Inspector General's office asserted it had documentary evidence Ramos and Compean:
2. stated during the interrogation they did not believe the suspect was a threat to them at the time of the shooting;
3. stated that day they "wanted to shoot a Mexican";
4. were belligerent to investigators;
5. destroyed evidence and lied to investigators.
This prompted a startled and angry response from the congressman.
"You lied to me and you lied to all of us," Culberson charged. "Your office tried to paint a picture of Ramos and Compean as dirty cops, and now you come before this committee and tell us you never had the information to back up those claims."
Ramos and Compean began prison sentences last month after their actions in the shooting of a drug smuggler who was granted immunity to testify against them.
Responding to Skinner's testimony yesterday, Poe said it "explains why DHS has been stonewalling Congress."
"DHS didn't turn over the reports to us to back up their September 26 accusations for one simple reason – the reports never existed," the Texas congressman said.
"Why did it take DHS four months to admit their error?" he asked. "I wonder how much more has DHS told the public and Congress about Ramos and Compean that simply isn't true?"
Poe said he's determined to get to the bottom of DHS's claim.
"I expect this new revelation will lead to a lot more questions before we're done," he said.
Andy Ramirez, who has been involved with the case as chairman of Friends of the Border Patrol, told WND the DHS's actions "represent obstruction of justice, and they should be held in contempt of Congress, and, if possible, prosecuted to the full extent of the law."
"This admission today is yet more proof of how they are willing to distort the facts, as I have charged all along, in order to ensure a conviction," he said.
Nope. CT isn't even for the state. My bad, never thought of it when I made up the name.
I agree with your sentiments.
THe father-in-law complained to the media when his son was in solitary. So they put in in a prison in a state where nobody knew him. Which would have probably worked, but for the appearance on "America's Most Wanted", which apparently is a big hit among the incarcerated.
Well, some of us will just have to give up the jobs that we are doing now so that this little problem can be taken care of!
Steel toed boots. HAAAAAAAAAAA. Never in a million years.
According to an interview done by WND with member's of Ramos's family, he WAS in solitary. Then again, I do take anything reported by WND with a grain of MSM salt. However, IF it was true that he was in solitary, then one has to ask why was he not in solitary confinement last weekend? Did he or his family ask that he be moved? Or did someone else order it?
Also, you seem to know so much more of the details about this incident than I do. Could you tell me where are you reading or hearing such details like "locked cell, while he was sleeping, and beat him with steel-toed boots"?
McLaim's nativest talk might fly in flyover country but we in CA & AZ arn't amused.
They also need to be doing masive daily raids on businesses
all over the U.S. and lock up the owners who hire illegals.
Be interesting to follow her career over the next 6 months. I'm thinking they'll give her a different assignment outside the Washington DC area (where they have their national headquarters) lest she wing a promotion into a job where she can do some real harm.
Wonder if there's a "love link" here?
snip
Three members of the jury that convicted two former El Paso Border Patrol agents of shooting a drug smuggler in the buttocks last year said they were misled into finding them guilty
Gourley, a Northeast special- education teacher, and Torres said in affidavits that the foreman of the jury told them that Judge Cardone would not accept a hung jury. And Woods said an affidavit that she heard the same statement but could not remember which juror said it. “Essentially … they conceded their votes, believing that they did not have the option to stick to their guns and prevent a unanimous verdict,” Stillinger wrote in the motion.
Gourley said that he thought the foreman was relating something he heard directly from the judge, and when he found no mention on hung juries in the court’s printed instructions, “I had no reason to doubt the foreman,” he said in the affidavit.
After the trial, Gourley told reporters that he felt pressured by other jurors who wanted to resume their normal lives after more than two weeks of trial. He also said he thought 10 years in prison was a grossly inappropriate punishment for the agents.
“Had we had the option of a hung jury, I truly believe the outcome may have been different,” he said in the affidavit.
Flores said in her affidavit that she believed the foreman because, “he was very experienced in serving on juries. I felt like he knew something about the judge that we did not know. É I did not think that Mr. Ramos or Mr. Compean was guilty of the assaults and civil rights violations.”
Yes, Nevada is a ...different. Why can we get one good senator, and the other, a dhimmicratic POS?
According to KFI this afternoon he wasn't in a cell. It's a low or moderate security prison and they sleep in large open room.
Me either. So where do convicted law enforcement officials go to do their time?
~LOL~ It's easy to do. I bill for a doctor in California, try finding the right "z" with the same first name in the computer.... just pray more than one doesn't share the same birthdate.
BTTT Good points, BohDaThone. WorldNetDaily is hardly a credible source 24/7.
Or get better jobs so we can afford to support our families and one or two of their's as well.
Don't laugh.. someone tried that last night and was proven incorrect in their laughter.
Thank you.
I saw Rep. Poe on Fox and Friends this morning, I cannot find a transcript. I thought he was going to talk about the Border Agents, instead he talked of a Deputy Sheriff in Texas who is going to jail as well for shooting the tires out of a van carrying illegals who pulled off while he was questioning them. The Deputy followed all the protocol, called in what happened, even the Texas Rangers showed up, nothing until the Feds showed up and filed charges on him. He is facing 10 yrs. as well. The interview was with Steve Doocy. I couldn't believe it. This madness has got to stop!!!
love link, maybe they are all aliens, who knows -- your imagination is apparently the limit.
I'll say one more thing, and I'm signing off.
We have a President of the United States. He has a name. It is George Bush. President George Bush.
It's not "Dubya". It's not "Jorge". Its "President George W. Bush".
If you can't be civil, at least show the manners of a 6-year-old, and call people by their real names.
You may think you are clever, "he look, I made up a name for the President that sound's mexican".
Well, you are not, you are simply childish. My kids could make up names for people when they were but wee lads. Oddly, by the time they got to their pre-teen years, they had GROWN UP enough to know that namecalling is childish, immmature, and adds NOTHING to a civilized discussion.
Thank you, and good night.
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