Posted on 09/08/2006 10:27:53 AM PDT by radar101
Members of Congress petitioning the president to pardon two U.S. Border Patrol agents convicted of assaulting an illegal alien who was trying to smuggle drugs into the U.S. are now calling for an investigation of the U.S. attorney who prosecuted the agents.
"These were good agents doing their job," said Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.). "There is something that stinks to high heaven."
On Feb. 17, 2005, U.S. Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean were on duty when they encountered Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila in a van carrying 743 pounds of marijuana. When the agents tried to stop Aldrete-Davila, he fled. Unable to shake the pursuing agents, he abandoned his van and continued running toward Mexico.
The agents' version of what happened next contradicts Aldrete-Davila's testimony. The one thing all agree on is that, while fleeing on foot, the illegal alien and drug smuggler was shot. Aldrete-Davila was treated at a hospital in El Paso and then returned to Mexico.
After learning of the shooting, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton sought out Aldrete-Davila in Mexico and offered him immunity from prosecution if he would return to the United States to testify against Ramos and Compean.
The initial immunity offer covered Aldrete-Davila's illegal entry into the U.S., the drug smuggling and his unlawful flight from the agents to avoid arrest. Sutton expanded the immunity to include a subsequent drug offense, when Aldrete-Davila tried to smuggle another 1,000 pounds of marijuana into the United States.
"The Justice Department says they don't have the resources to secure our borders, but somehow they found the resources to send agents to Mexico to find Aldrete-Davila and prosecute these agents," Tancredo said.
Rep. Red Poe (R-Texas) said the Justice Department is "on the wrong side" of this case.
"It appears as though they are working for the government of Mexico instead of the government of the United States," Poe said. "Instead of prosecuting [the agents], they should be giving them a medal."
Sentencing hearings for the agents have been postponed twice and are now scheduled for Oct. 18. They each face from five to 20 years in prison.
"It will absolutely be a sin, it will be a crime if these agents go to jail," said Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.).
Jones has discussed the case with Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and the White House. He told Cybercast News Service that "Something is not right. Washington, D.C. needs to look into that office's activities."
"We need to start asking questions and go down to Texas and find out if there is a problem," he added, noting that there is a history of Sutton pursuing cases against law enforcement officials. "If the American people rally behind these two agents, then we can certainly look into the actions of the federal office down in Texas."
Sutton's office did not return phone calls requesting comment for this article.
So, what part of San Fran do you live in anyway?
The Los Angeles part.
I'm medically retired courtesy of a bullet in my left lung (and that was one of my two favorite lungs, too).
I want to see dirty cops punished. These cops behaved in a way that only dirty cops behave.
If you were, you are now bitter and suspect only the worst from them and willingly take the side of the scumbags polluting our children with drugs and illegally entering the country.
These worked really hard to try to make the whole episode disappear. Good does not need to hide; evil does. There's only one reason I can think of for trying to make the whole thing go away right after the event, and it's not a good one.
Quite the little conservative you are!
I'm more of a small-"l" libertarian. I definitely think the War on Drugs, as practiced, is a bad thing--it provides the impetus for lots of bad things, from no-knock raids and jack-booted ninjas to efforts to ban firearms ownership.
Figures. Say HI to Barbra and the rest of your West Coast gang for us.
I don't need to show you squat. Just read your posts. You obviously support the illegal running drugs across the border and not our Border Patrol who try under extremely difficult circumstances (with a government which does NOT support their primary mission) do do their job.
The US Attorney was WRONG and just an extension of the total lack of support and antagonistic attitude toward the mission of securing our borders that some on this forum are wholeheartedly against. Perhaps instead of getting out your rope to hang these guys you should get out there and find out just how difficult our BP has it.
This is the Land of Reagan and Robinson...watch your mouth. ;)
That's because what you said was FALSE.
Link my support for drug runners or hush.
The only reason that makes sense would be that the agents didn't want to have any official record of the incident at all. Now, if this was all on the up-and-up, having some "been there, done that" in the official record is a good thing.
So why wouldn't they want an official note of this in their records?
Because they weren't on the up-and-up, and something like this on their records would lead to questions they didn't want answered.
What the specific reason is, I don't know.
Any firearms discharge by a law enforcement officer has to be investigated completely. That is the law of the land, and it's a good one. These guys interfered with that investigation.
So why on this one day would they decide risk everything and shoot a fleeing alien in the back? For fun? I don’t think so.
Law enforcement agencies LIKE their guys who have been there and done that. Something like this, if the basis was on the up-and-up, would be career-enhancing for both of them if it got into their records.
So why did they go to such lengths to conceal it and keep it out of their records? Good does not need to hide; evil does.
Nothing I have said is false.
You patently endorse the government's use of the drug runner in court against these agents. You sypathize with this illegal scum over BP agents who are faithfully executing their mission. You therefore support the drug runner. The totality of your statements support what I have said. You are trying to say this is only about hypocrisy and illegal behaviour, but you fail to look at the hypocrisy of using the testimony and excusing the behaviour of the illegal "victim" against the agents.
So why don't you hush??? ... perhaps it's because like anyone else here you have an opinion AND you do have a right to express it.... just as I do.
False.
You obviously support the illegal running drugs across the border
False. Link please.
You patently endorse the government's use of the drug runner in court against these agents.
False. Link please.
You sypathize with this illegal scum over BP agents who are faithfully executing their mission.
False. Link please.
If they were faithfully executing their mission, they wouldn't have destroyed evidence and tried to conceal that the shooting ever happened.
That's the way it looks to me. Question is, what were they up to?
Were they young or new? Could've just realized they made a mistake shooting at the illegal and panicked.
Supposedly made thousands of apprehensions without ever pulling their gun.
Wonder if maybe the smuggler was an inconvenient witness to something?
Maybe even if they weren't new.
Unlikely, though. The ones who do stupid stuff when they stress out do it early; the usual issues with longer-term guys is alcoholism and/or family problems--job performance is the very LAST thing to go.
Assuming that they could answer all of the questions without any hiccups, yes.
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