Free Republic

When cops stopped Antonio Sing-Ledezma's car following a shooting outside El Paso, Texas, in March and asked him if he had anything illegal on him, he didn't mention the handgun with the scratched-off serial number hidden in the vehicle. Sing-Ledezma, who did admit to having some marijuana and a glass pipe in his jacket pocket, told the officers that he had just been shot. When they asked him who pulled the trigger, however, he became uncooperative. A subsequent search of his vehicle turned up the weapon. A Mexican citizen wanted for murder in his home country who'd previously been deported...

A federal judge in Texas recently agreed with a federal judge in Oklahoma that the national ban on gun possession by cannabis consumers violates the Second Amendment. Kathleen Cardone, a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, also concluded that the federal ban on transferring firearms to an "unlawful user" of a "controlled substance," first imposed by the Gun Control Act of 1968, is unconstitutional. The case involves Paola Connelly, who was charged with illegal possession of firearms under 18 USC 922(g)(3) after El Paso police found marijuana and guns in her home while responding...

In a win for the Biden administration, a federal judge blocked an executive order by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) that would have banned the U.S. government from transporting migrants in the Lone Star State. Abbott issued the order under the banner of fighting the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone, a George W. Bush appointee, determined that the governor’s order violated the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution and said Abbott’s rationale did not withstand basic scrutiny. “Indeed, recent data shows that ‘migrants generally test positive at similar or lower rates than Americans living in the counties where they...

A federal judge Tuesday blocked Texas from allowing state troopers to stop vehicles carrying migrants on the grounds that they may spread COVID-19 as worries and new cases are rising along the U.S.-Mexico border. The temporary order by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone of El Paso is at least a short-term victory for the Biden administration, which had warned that Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's plan would create more problems amid high levels of summer border crossings in Texas —- particularly in the Rio Grande Valley, which one U.S. official called the “epicenter of the current surge.” In a sign of...

In Denton v. City of El Paso, Texas, (5th Cir., July 6, 2021), the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the case to a Texas federal district court ordering it to grant a preliminary injunction barring El Paso from prohibiting religious proselytizing at the weekly outdoor El Paso Art and Farmers Market. The city's rules bar fundraising, political campaigning and religious proselytizing from the market. The court held that these exclusions are content-based, and concluded: It is unclear whether the City has asserted a compelling government interest. We need not decide this issue ......

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...

- - Tonight an outrageous move from the White House, President Bush pardoning 14 people, including drug dealers. But not former border patrol agents Ramos and Compean. DOBBS: President Bush today granted 14 pardons and he commuted two prison sentences. Five of those given clemency were convicted of serious drug charges. In what is an outrageous miscarriage of justice, former border patrols Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean serving lengthy prison sentences were not included on the president's list. They are serving those sentences for shooting and wounding an illegal alien drug dealer who they were pursuing and who was given...

Friends Of The Border Patrol Report offers Change #1 to newly elected administration and Congress Chino, CA – Friends of the Border Patrol has released a report uncovering corruption and security compromises within the government titled “Unjustifiable and Impeachable: The FOBP Report on DHS, DOJ, and the Courts. Andy Ramirez has authored this report with a section featuring 50 Exhibits documenting compromises, corruption and unconscionable incidents that go back 15 years in some cases. The report contains two volumes, with Volume I authored by Andy Ramirez, and Volume II written by Attorney John Cavicchi, which primarily addresses the court system....

Lou Dobbs Tonight Transcript - Kitty Pilgrim, Guest Anchor 11th Hour Pardons - Ramos & Compean Aired Tuesday, November 18, 2008 Are former border patrol agents Ramos and Compean closer to a presidential pardon? We'll have a special report PILGRIM: President Bush has issued only 157 pardons and commuted six prison sentences during his time in office. And the president still has 63 days left to consider remaining clemency requests and two of those requests are from Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. In a gross miscarriage of justice the two former border patrol agents were convicted of shooting and wounding...

As I noted in a post during the Republican convention in September, there was something fishy about the Republicans' use of the slogan "Country First" in the recent campaign. Why not "America First?" We got the answer the other day when the Bush administration continued its attack on the two U.S. Border Patrol agents who were sentenced to long jail terms for shooting and wounding a drug smuggler. The Bush Justice Department continued to go after the men this week and succeeded in an effort to prevent any significant reduction in the sentences of former agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose...

A former Border Patrol agent's lengthy sentence for shooting a fleeing drug smuggler had been described as extreme by his supporters, but a federal judge showed no mercy Wednesday at the former agent's resentencing hearing in El Paso, Texas. The judge upheld Jose Alonso Compean's original punishment and resentenced him to 10 years in prison for his conviction on a charge of using a weapon in the commission of a felony and another two years in prison for assault and other charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Compean's attorneys plan to turn to the Supreme Court for a review of...

A second former Border Patrol agent who received a lengthy sentence in a case involving the shooting of a fleeing drug smuggler has been resentenced to his original 11 years and a day in prison, as the agents' supporters hold out hope for presidential pardons. Ignacio Ramos got the same sentence two years ago when he was convicted in the shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, an admitted, and now convicted, drug smuggler. On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Cardone gave Ramos' partner, Jose Alonso Compean, his original 12-year sentence, 10 years on a charge of using a weapon in...

Tonight a new setback for supporters of the former border patrol agents at the center of an outrageous miscarriage of justice DOBBS: Now developments in the case of former border patrol agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos. A judge today upheld Compean's 12-year sentence for shooting a criminal illegal alien while he was fleeing. and was given immunity to testify against those two border patrol agents while still running drugs, of course. This comes even after some of his other convictions in this case were overturned by an appellate court. Casey Wian has the latest on this case of absolute...

DOBBS: And a major setback for one -- for both of the former border patrol agents who are at the center of an outrageous, miscarriage of justice. That story is next. # # Well a judge today refused to overturn Ignacio Ramos' most serious charge in the federal court hearing. This comes even as the appellate court threw out some of his other convictions. Casey Wian has our report from El Paso, Texas. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former border patrol agent Ignacio Ramos acknowledges supporters as he arrives for re- sentencing at an El Paso, Texas federal...