Tancredo visits ex-border allegedly beaten in Miss. prison

[firecracker]

http://www.examiner.com/a-556988~Tancre ... rison.html

Tancredo visits ex-border allegedly beaten in Miss. prison
Feb 9, 2007 3:54 PM (45 mins ago)

YAZOO CITY, Miss. - U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado met Friday with Ignacio Ramos at the prison where the former U.S. Border Patrol agent was beaten by other inmates.

Tancredo said he offered encouragement and campaigned to get Ramos a change in cells.

Ramos and another Border Patrol agent are serving time at Yazoo City Federal Correctional Complex for shooting a drug smuggling suspect in Texas and then lying about it.

"I gave him as much positive information as I could," Tancredo said after leaving the prison in Yazoo City, Miss., about 35 miles northeast of Jackson. "And it is our hope we can get him moved to another part of the facility that is safe for him but not in a segregated environment ... 23 hours a day in a cell, which he has now."

Tancredo, a Republican presidential candidate a vocal supporter of the agents and opponent of illegal immigration, has said the Bush administration for failed to protect Ramos and has demanded that the agents receive a full presidential pardon.

The congressman said he was allowed to see the prison area where Ramos was beaten and had "observed bruises and abrasions on his body."

He said Ramos had one bruise that "starts at the top of a shoulder and goes all the way to the elbow. It is very deep, a purplish, red, very deep bruise."

Before traveling to the prison that houses low- and medium-security inmates, Tancredo said the Ramos family "has had to endure too much already for something as diminutive as a failure to report an incident. Sure it deserves punishment, but not one worse than some murderers."

Tancredo said after Friday's meeting he believed prison officials would move Ramos from isolation to better, but still safe, quarters elsewhere in the facility.

"I talked with the warden ... at great length and she was very accommodating," he said. "She said she would in fact request a new placement for him."

Tancredo said he understood a meeting would be held next Wednesday to consider the request.

He said he told Ramos that there had been vigils and other demonstrations of support for the agents and that "a lot of people were praying for him."

Prison officials on Tuesday confirmed the beating of Ramos, whose conviction along with that of fellow former agent Jose Alonso Compean drew sharp criticism from some who said the agents were merely doing their job defending the border against criminals.

An Associated Press photographer from Jackson, at the prison Friday to take pictures of Tancredo, was told by a security officer that he had to surrender the digital disk in his camera before he would be allowed to leave the facility. Later, the photographer was allowed to leave with the digital images - scenes of the exterior of the prison.

Ramos and Compean were convicted last year of shooting Osvaldo Aldrete Davila in 2005 at a rural area near El Paso, Texas, and then trying to cover up the incident. Davila was shot once in the buttocks.

Ramos and Compean, who reported to prison in January, were each sentenced to more than a decade behind bars. Compean is serving his sentence at the Elkton Federal Correctional Institution, a low-security prison in Ohio. There have been no reports of problems with his detention.

Monica Ramos, the agent's wife, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he called her on his 38th birthday and said: "They got me. They got me good."

Monica Ramos said her husband described being attacked late Saturday, when he "let his guard down" and went to his bed. The attackers, she said, kicked and stomped him for several minutes before running away.

Ignacio Ramos was able to identify one man in the group and is now pursuing criminal charges, Monica Ramos said.

[Jean]

Thank you for that update firecracker. I had heard Congressman Tancredo had a 10 am appt to visit Ramos and was wondering how that went.

[Jean]

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/ ... meets.html

Tancredo Meets With Jailed Border Patrol Guard
By Eunice Moscoso | Friday, February 9, 2007, 03:44 PM


Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., an ardent critic of illegal immigration who is pondering a run for the White House, spent about an hour Friday with Ignacio Ramos, one of two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a suspected drug dealer and trying to cover up the incident.

The case has become a major cause among conservative talk shows and lawmakers in Washington who believe the agents were wrongly convicted and are asking for a Congressional investigation and a pardon from President Bush.

Tancredo said in a telephone interview that Ramos showed signs of being severely beaten, with deep bruises along his arm, cuts and bruises on his chest and back, and bruises on his knees.

Ramos told the lawmaker that he had been pummeled and kicked by five or six inmates on Saturday while others watched after they saw him on an episode of the television show, America’s Most Wanted, Tancredo said.

Ramos did not get medical attention until Monday and a catscan showed no brain damage, the lawmaker added. In addition, the attackers were wearing steel-toed boots, Tancredo said.

“This is a horrible travesty. This is a fine young man,” Tancredo said.

Tancredo has asked the warden of the Mississippi prison to move Ramos to a different part of the prison for his safety and said she seemed open to the idea. Tancredo also said that he prayed with Ramos and that Ramos “broke down a little bit” when talking about his family.

After the attack, Ramos was moved to solitary confinement, Tancredo said.

[jamesw62]

ALLEGEDLY beaten???

who are they kidding, we all know this wasnt alleged

[Jean]

Please see on Tancredo's website where we can send letters and/or cards of support to Ignacio Ramos.
Please scroll down and you'll see the name and address in a red box:
http://www.teamtancredo.com/news.php#instructions

[April]

Jean wrote:

Please see on Tancredo's website where we can send letters and/or cards of support to Ignacio Ramos.
Please scroll down and you'll see the name and address in a red box:
http://www.teamtancredo.com/news.php#instructions

Great! Thanks Jean!

[jamesw62]

Please see on Tancredo's website where we can send letters and/or cards of support to Ignacio Ramos.
Please scroll down and you'll see the name and address in a red box:
http://www.teamtancredo.com/news.php#instructions

IDEA. if you write the two BP agents. since im sure they have to pay for stamps. lets send them a stamped envelope. dont put any name on it and let them use the stamp and envelope to send to anyone they want

[Jean]

Please see on Tancredo's website where we can send letters and/or cards of support to Ignacio Ramos.
Please scroll down and you'll see the name and address in a red box:
http://www.teamtancredo.com/news.php#instructions

IDEA. if you write the two BP agents. since im sure they have to pay for stamps. lets send them a stamped envelope. dont put any name on it and let them use the stamp and envelope to send to anyone they want

That's a really good idea james!!!

[nittygritty]

James, that is a wonderful idea, I will send them more then one!