Posted on 09/15/2006 1:07:44 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Border patrol officials will be required to evaluate the actions and training of their agents in the field as part of an amendment to the border fence bill passed by the House on Thursday.
The amendment was attached to the bill this week by House members questioning internal law enforcement policies that prohibit Border Patrol agents from pursuing fleeing suspects in vehicles.
The Section 5 amendment was in response to circumstances surrounding the conviction of two Texas Border Patrol agents who violated their department's pursuit policy when they chased a fleeing drug smuggler on Feb. 17, 2005.
El Paso Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, whose story was first published in the Daily Bulletin on Aug. 6, are facing 20 years in prison for their role in the nonfatal shooting of Mexican national Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, who ran away from the agents after illegally entering the United States from Mexico in a van filled with nearly 800 pounds of marijuana. Ramos said he shot at the smuggler when he saw a gun pointed at him during the foot chase along the Rio Grande River.
During the trial in the spring, the Texas U.S. Attorney's Office also accused the agents of violating several administrative procedures, including the pursuit of a drug smuggler without supervisory permission.
"Many in this Congress have been following what they believe to be the overreaching prosecution of two Border Patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who believed they were doing their job to protect the U.S. border and keep drugs from entering America," said Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, to his colleagues on Thursday.
The amendment requires Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to file a full report with Congress evaluating "the authority of personnel of United States Customs and Border Protection to stop vehicles that enter the United States illegally and refuse to stop when ordered to do so," and compare those policies to other department pursuit policies.
Chertoff has 60 days from the passage of the bill to file the report with the House Committee on Homeland Security and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate.
Supporters of the section are touting it as the Ramos-Compean Amendment, said Andy Ramirez, chairman of the Chino-based Friends of the Border Patrol.
"Section 5 is equally dependent upon the integrity of DHS and the Secretary to report back to Congress the facts which have been previously distorted by DHS to the American people," Ramirez said. "Border Patrol agents have had their hands tied for too long."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Kanof, who successfully prosecuted the case, argued before a Texas jury that Ramos and Compean should not have pursued Aldrete-Davila under current Border Patrol policy.
"Border Patrol policy is not to pursue unless a supervisor approves it," said Kanof, in an interview last month with the paper. "They should not have pursued him in the first place."
Border Patrol agents and officials have been highly critical of what they see as a failed policy that binds them from doing their jobs, said TJ Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents nearly 11,000 agents. Many times agents bend the rules to continue pursuing fleeing suspects to accomplish their jobs, Bonner added.
Border Patrol policy requires agents to contact their supervisors immediately at the beginning of a pursuit in order to get permission to continue the pursuit. Many times supervisors don't allow Border Patrol agents to continue the pursuit, so many agents avoid contacting supervisors when pursuing a suspect, Bonner said.
"The policy should absolutely be changed," Bonner said. "The agent on the scene should have the discretion to decide the proper course of action, not a supervisor sitting behind the desk miles away."
"Our Border Patrol agents in the field need a clear and all-inclusive pursuit policy to show that we are serious on defending our border," Poe said. "Anything less makes our Border Patrol agents nothing more than highly specialized and trained Wal-Mart greeters."
The leftists in the senate (McCain etc) will not even begin to negotiate without an illegal immigrant amnesty clause.
H.R.6061
Title: To establish operational control over the international land and maritime borders of the United States.
Sponsor: Rep King, Peter T. [NY-3] (introduced 9/13/2006) Cosponsors (42)
Related Bills: H.RES.1002
Latest Major Action: 9/14/2006 Received in the Senate. Read the first time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under Read the First Time.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.06061:
During the trial in the spring, the Texas U.S. Attorney's Office also accused the agents of violating several administrative procedures, including the pursuit of a drug smuggler without supervisory permission.
God forbid an illegal bring several hundred pounds of pot into the country be stopped, even if it requires lethal force be used. Whose side is this rodeo-clown attorney on, anyway?
Our Congress. Talk about the Enemy Within!
ping
How about just putting language in the Border Security bill saying that the Border Patrol is *REQUIRED* to stop any and all illegal entry into the United States and its territories.
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