Agents' case makes Rohrabacher see red
GORDON DILLOW
Register columnist
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The other day I ran into Orange County Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher at a Memorial Day event. And with just two words from me, the congressman's face was suddenly wreathed in an angry red mist.

The two words were "Ramos" and "Compean."

"It's one of the most frustrating things in my career that those two guys are still in jail," Rohrabacher told me later. "Am I angry? Sure I'm angry."

You've probably heard about this case, which has infuriated not only Rohrabacher but people across the nation. Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean are the two former U.S. Border Patrol agents who are currently serving lengthy prison sentences for shooting an illegal immigrant drug smuggler in the butt after a 2005 confrontation along the border near El Paso, Texas.

Ordinarily you wouldn't think that would be a ticket to prison. After all, the agents said they thought the guy had a weapon, he had scuffled with and caused minor injuries to one of the agents before fleeing back to Mexico with the bullet wound in his butt, and there was no denying that he was a drug smuggler. The van he was driving contained 743 pounds of marijuana.

Nevertheless, West Texas U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton charged Ramos and Compean with an unjustified shooting, and gave the drug smuggler immunity – along with a border pass and free medical treatment in a U.S. hospital – to return from Mexico and testify against the agents. Based primarily on the drug smuggler's testimony, a federal jury convicted Ramos and Compean of assault and civil rights and firearms violations, after which they were sentenced to 11 and 12 years, respectively, in federal prison.

Well, I didn't attend the trial, but I have read the trial transcripts. And as I've said before in this space, it's pretty clear to me that the convictions were bogus, the result of overzealous prosecutors and a "border town" anti-Border Patrol mentality. At one point a federal prosecutor went so far as to argue that drug smugglers like his star witness only do it because they are poor and need to "feed their families."

And here's the kicker. While he was under immunity to testify against the agents, the drug smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, was still smuggling drugs! He was finally arrested and charged last November for the post-shooting drug smuggling, with the case being prosecuted by the same U. S. Attorney's office that used him as the star witness against the Border Patrol agents. He pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

Meanwhile, the former agents aren't doing easy time. Because of safety concerns – Ramos was attacked by other inmates at one federal prison – they are held in solitary confinement, Compean in Ohio and Ramos in Arizona, locked in their cells 23 hours a day, with severely limited phone and visitation privileges.

All of which makes Dana Rohrabacher absolutely furious.

"It's unbelievable that these men are languishing in solitary confinement" because of a "split-second decision" in the line of duty, he says.

Since the trial, Rohrabacher has become one of the point men in the case. (Compean's sister is a Rohrabacher constituent; she lives in Huntington Beach.) He has railed about the injustice of it at rallies and on TV and radio shows, asked the Justice Department to review the case, co-sponsored legislation requesting the commutation of the agents' sentences, demanded that President Bush issue a pardon and asked presidential candidate Sen. John McCain to promise to pardon them if elected.

All to no avail. The Bush Administration says it won't even consider a pardon unless the agents admit guilt – which the agents won't do. Rohrabacher says McCain ignored his request. And the Justice Department is standing by the prosecution.

The agents' primary hope now is with a federal appeals court, which could issue a ruling in the case any time.

"I'd be satisfied if we could just get them out of jail," Rohrabacher says. "But for justice to be served, these two men should be completely exonerated, be given back pay and reinstatement to their jobs, and an apology should be given to them and their families."

Unfortunately, that full measure of justice for the agents seems unlikely. It's not as if Ramos and Compean will ever truly get their lives back.

And even if they are freed from prison, it won't make Dana Rohrabacher -- and a lot of other people -- any less angry that they were sent there in the first place.


To comment on the Ramos-Compean case, you can contact Rep. Rohrabacher's Washington, D.C. office during business hours at 202-225-2415, or his Huntington Beach office at 714-960-6483.

CONTACT THE WRITER 714-796-7953 or GLDillow@aol.com
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