Posted on 08/02/2007 7:06:56 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
Family seeks support for border agent; Ignacio Ramos serving 11-year sentence after wounding smuggler
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
By: CHRIS BAGLEY - Staff Writer
TEMECULA -- A thousand points of friction surround the issue of illegal immigration, but few have inflamed passions like the cases of Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos and Jose Compean.
The two U.S. Border Patrol agents have been in federal prison since January after shooting and wounding a drug smuggler who was fleeing to the Mexican border in February 2005. The agents are serving 11 and 12 years, respectively, for convictions on charges of armed assault, obstruction of justice and civil-rights violations.
Champions of their cause include conservative media outlets and grass-roots groups across the nation and -- most recently -- a pair of congressional Democrats. None have gone to greater lengths than Ramos' father-in-law, Joe Loya, who is speaking in Temecula on Friday evening.
Loya has made two dozen trips across the country in a fight against what he calls a "miscarriage of justice."
"Law enforcement is being attacked on a daily basis by drug smugglers, by illegals," Loya said Monday from his home in El Paso.
The agents had responded to an alert of an illegal border crossing on the afternoon of Feb. 17, 2005, about 30 miles southeast of El Paso. Ramos and a third agent chased down the van and cornered its driver, Mexican national Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, next to a sewage ditch just a few hundred feet north of the Rio Grande, which forms the U.S.-Mexico border.
Compean, who had arrived separately, slipped and fell while trying to shove Davila. The driver seized the opportunity to run toward the border. At trial, Compean testified that he fired his handgun at the man after seeing something black and shiny in his hand. The third agent testified that Compean, a five-year veteran of the Border Patrol, never called out to alert the other agents of a gun, as policy dictates.
Investigators turned up no evidence that Davila was armed, and the smuggler later testified that he wasn't. The two agents' defenders scoff at that claim.
In any case, none of Compean's shots hit. Ramos, a 10-year veteran, fired a single shot through Davila's left buttock a moment later, severing his urethra. Davila limped through the river and up the opposite bank. He is now suing the U.S. government for $5 million.
The agents later found 750 pounds of marijuana in Davila's van, but they reported the incident to supervisors without mentioning the shooting, in violation of the agency's policy, and Compean removed shell casings from the scene. The shooting was reported a few days later by a Border Patrol agent in Arizona, whose mother had known Davila's mother from her childhood in Mexico.
Several former Border Patrol supervisors have questioned the groundswell of support, saying the two agents soiled the agency's reputation.
Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, a former Border Patrol agent, initially supported the agents' sentencing but has spoken out more recently against it. One Republican congressman has proposed a bill that would prevent government money from being used to keep Ramos and Compean incarcerated.
Loya had harsh words for the court's handling of the case and particularly for Johnny Sutton, the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case, accusing him of blocking evidence that would cast doubt on Davila's credibility as a witness. The agents' supporters have expressed particular outrage that Sutton granted Davila immunity to testify against the agents.
The incident has cost Ramos' family more than $250,000 in legal fees and lost earnings, Loya said.
The Web site agentramos.blogspot.com has offset some of that by soliciting donations for the family. Loya said he's traveling to Temecula on Friday and then Los Angeles on Saturday, to bring attention to the agents' plight. Ramos has been moved from federal lockup in Mississippi to another prison in Phoenix. Family members have said inmates assaulted him after learning that he is a Border Patrol agent. Federal prison guards in Arizona are treating him well, Loya said.
The imprisoned agents have found particular support in Southern California, a crucible of the nation's strife over illegal immigration. Of 20 overnight trips Loya has made in support of his son-in-law, 12 have been to Southern California, he said. He drove and slept in his car on the first few trips, though more recent hosts have covered his air fare and motel stays.
Bob Kowell, president of the Murrieta-Temecula Republican Assembly, said he invited Loya to the area after meeting him at a state Republican convention in Ontario this spring. The local Republican group is hosting Loya at 6 p.m. at Pat & Oscar's restaurant in central Temecula.
U.S. Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, and Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, testified on the agents' behalf last month before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is investigating the agents' prosecution. Committee members Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, have asked President Bush to commute the agents' sentences.
Bush refused to intervene last week and defended Sutton as an "evenhanded guy" and a "dear friend" from Bush's days as governor of Texas.
Kowell, a consistently outspoken conservative voice in Southwest County, said he agreed with Bush on most issues, but added: "On this issue, he's just wrong."
-- Contact staff writer Chris Bagley at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2615, or cbagley@californian.com.
* Talk on imprisoned Border Patrol agent
What: Joe Loya, whose son-in-law, Ignacio 'Nacho' Ramos, is in federal prison for shooting a fleeing drug smuggler and not reporting the incident, is speaking in Temecula on Friday.
Where: Pat & Oscar's restaurant, 29375 Rancho California Road at Ynez Road.
When: 6 p.m.
Cost: $15 for members of the Murrieta-Temecula Republican Assembly, $20 for nonmembers, $10 for students
RSVP: Adele at (951) 506-1999 or adelegaryh@msn.com
They have a thankless job...
Good post DB.
Glad this subject keeps up front so not forgotten
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ping
Bump
"They currently have a thankless job..."
Let's work to make sure they they know we are thankful for their service and dedication and remove politicians that aren't.
...they they... = ...that they...
ping
This was a fair, well written article.
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