Free Republic

Justice: Another border patrol agent faces prison after arresting an illegal alien smuggling drugs. When not being killed by guns funneled into Mexico by their own government, they are prosecuted for doing their job. In a case reminiscent of an earlier injustice against those protecting our borders, Border Patrol Agent Jesus E. "Chito" Diaz Jr. has been sentenced to two years in prison by U.S. District Judge Alia Moses Ludlum in San Antonio. The illegal alien he arrested for drug smuggling goes free. In November 2009, Diaz was named in a federal grand jury indictment after an October 2008 arrest...

Since February 24, 2011, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Jesus Diaz has been sitting in a prison cell, following a conviction on one count of excessive force and 5 counts of lying to Internal Affairs. Given the circumstances of his case, and this government’s seeming crusade against Border Patrol agents, Agent Diaz could arguably called yet another political prisoner for Mexico. His crime? On October 16, 2008, Agent Diaz responded to a location near Eagle Pass, TX, after a report came in that several drug smugglers were in the area after crossing the river. Once the illegal aliens were apprehended, Agent...

Another Border Patrol agent on the southwest border is facing a long prison sentence for doing his job. Isn't it amazing how this happens only on the southwest border and never the Canadian border? Veteran agent Jesus Diaz faces a sentence of five to 25 years in federal prison for "mistreating" an illegal alien who was apprehended crossing the border near Eagle Pass, Texas, in 2008. The man was handcuffed, and allegedly, Diaz lifted his handcuffs to force him to the ground because he was not cooperative. For this "offense" Diaz was prosecuted by U.S. attorney for the West Texas...

In what appears to be yet another case of the Mexican Government orchestrating a fake crime against one of their drug smuggling criminals hauling dope into the U.S., Border Patrol Agent Jesus Diaz, a 7-year Border Patrol veteran, was convicted in Federal Court on February 24 of one count of excessive force (under color of law) and 5 counts of lying to Internal Affairs. He is facing a maximum of 35 years in prison when he is sentenced in November. Meanwhile, he’s been in jail since the verdict nearly two months ago. He’s in solitary confinement 23 hours per day...

Border patrol agents have one job to do and that is to protect the borders of the United States whether these imaginary lines are north or south, east or west, ground, sea or air. These officers risk their lives daily chasing illegal immigrants throughout the vast Southwest and as recent as yesterday, two brave officers of the Border Patrol lost their lives chasing illegal aliens. Nobody knows how dangerous the job is except those who wear the badge and do it with the courage required to keep us safe. ... It is unfortunate that Agent Diaz didn't receive fair and...

Former Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos says new evidence has surfaced since he went to prison over the 2005 shooting of a Mexican drug smuggler and he wants a retrial. "I know I'm rolling the dice," said Ramos, adding that a new trial could result in additional charges. Ramos said his attorney would file the documents within two months. He offered no details on any new evidence, the Houston Chronicle reported Monday. Ramos and another convicted former agent, Jose Compean, were freed Feb. 17, 2008, weeks after then-President George W. Bush commuted their sentences. Ramos returned to El Paso for...

Robert Rosas had two dreams for his children. One was to dance at his daughter's wedding. The other was to see his son graduate from the Border Patrol. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ About 4500 people were crowded into the school where the Memorial was held. A caravan of Law Enforcement Agency vehicles left from San Diego beginning at 6 AM and stretched over two miles. A cross has been placed at the location where he was killed. Investigation update: The FBI and American Law Enforcement do not think the Mexican Government has the right guys. Anyone who wants to see where the cross...

SAN DIEGO — The FBI is offering $10,000 for help finding the gun of a Border Patrol agent who was slain last week in a rugged area outside San Diego. The FBI says Rosas carried a black Heckler & Koch P2000, a .40-caliber gun. Mexican authorities have detained five men in connection with the case. They say one of them — 36-year-old Ernesto Parra Valenzuela — carried a 9 mm pistol when he was captured.

DEA dissenter Sandy Gonzalez reveals the drug war's complicity in torture and murder south of the border. Sandalio “Sandy” Gonzalez spent 27 of his 32 years in law enforcement with the Drug Enforcement Administration, working in Los Angeles, Mexico City, and Washington, D.C., and eventually taking charge of the agency’s operations for all of South America. In 2001, while Gonzalez was working as a high-ranking agent in Miami, there was a raid by a team of DEA and Miami–Dade County narcotics agents on a suspected major drug distributor. Several kilograms of cocaine were mysteriously missing by the time the evidence...

Former U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton has been hired to work in a consulting and law firm formed by former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. Sutton, who resigned Sunday as chief of the San Antonio-based Western District of Texas, is one of four outgoing U.S. attorneys hired by Ashcroft. All served under the administration of former President George W. Bush. “Johnny is joining the Ashcroft law firm, as is John Ratcliffe, former U.S. attorney from Dallas,” said Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Ashcroft’s company. “They will be operating in Texas as Ashcroft Sutton Ratcliffe LLC.” Corallo said Sutton will remain in...

Outgoing U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton said Monday he still believes he made the right call in prosecuting two then-Border Patrol agents convicted of covering up their shooting of an unarmed drug smuggler in the back. In a wide-ranging interview since announcing last week that he is resigning April 19, Sutton also said he was voluntarily leaving the job he’s had for more than seven years — the top federal prosecutor of the San Antonio-based Western District of Texas. Sutton, who was nominated to the post by President George W. Bush, said he is leaving for a legal job in the...

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton of Austin, who is the top federal prosecutor for a 68-county swath of central, south and west Texas, told his staff today that he is resigning the post effective April 19. Spokeswoman Shana Jones said Sutton e-mailed a letter of resignation this morning to President Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Jones said Sutton would not speak to the media until next week and currently does not want to disclose his future plans. Sutton, 48, was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2001. Obama has not named a potential successor. Among the names...

(CNSNews.com) – A federal judge left unchanged the decade-plus prison sentences for two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a Mexican drug smuggler in early 2005. The ruling could be the final chapter of a controversial legal case that began along the Texas-Mexican border and erupted into a political and media firestorm. The prosecutor in the case, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton of the Western District of Texas, was satisfied with the outcome. “It was a very righteous prosecution,” Sutton told CNSNews.com on Thursday. “The court of appeals and anyone who has looked at the facts has agreed with that. The...

The US Supreme Court will not hear the appeals of US Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. The refusal lets stand the opinion of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirming the convictions and the sentences of the agents. Although this effectively ends the agents’ hopes to have their felony convictions overturned, they are now free men thanks to a last minute commutation of their 10-year sentences by President Bush. Had it not been for Bush’s action, the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case would likely have meant the agents would have served their full sentences. Nonetheless,...

Former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who were given long jail terms for shooting at a fleeing drug smuggler, today told Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck that they were sustained by prayers of the American people and their spirits were lifted by their letters. The two were interviewed on Beck's program in their first television interview allowed under the terms of their probation after President Bush commuted their sentences on his last day in office. They just were released from ankle bracelet restrictions and still face limits on with whom they can talk. One of...

DALLAS – Attorneys say two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a drug smuggler and covering it up have been released from prison. Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean each had their sentences of more than 10 years commuted earlier this year by former President George W. Bush. Their commutation becomes effective March 20, and both will serve out the remainder of their sentences in home confinement. The men were convicted in 2006 of shooting Osvaldo Aldrete Davila near El Paso and trying to conceal it. Ramos left a federal prison in Phoenix on Tuesday morning on furlough, according to...

Just heard that Ramos has been released from prison. There will be no media access until March 20, 2009.

In a meeting last month with the Barack Obama’s transition staff, representatives of the nation’s top prosecutors caught a glimpse of the president-elect’s thinking on the politically fraught issue of what to do with the the current 93 U.S. attorneys. “[The president-elect] is going to be smart and be cautious. My gut feeling is it won’t be like it was in 1993,” said U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton of Texas’ Western District, a member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys. On Dec. 11, Sutton and 15 other members of the committee met with Obama’s DOJ transition chief, David...

President Bush, who apparently uses the same pen for veto’s and pardons, has given out 14 and commuted the sentences of 2 others. All were pretty much low level scumbags who pretty much hurt no one but themselves, but what about the border agents? Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., noted that the list also did not include former Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who were convicted of shooting a drug smuggler and trying to cover it up. Ramos and Compean are each serving sentences of more than 10 years for shooting Osvaldo Aldrete Davila in the buttocks while...