Thread: Convicted border agents begin their sentences

Originally Posted by Louie Gilot, El Paso Times

Convicted border agents begin their sentences
Louie Gilot, El Paso Times, 01/17/2007, 03:11:57 PM MST

Tempers were flaring on both sides today as two former El Paso Border Patrol agents surrendered to the authorities to start lengthy prison sentences. Family members of agent Ignacio Ramos, California Minutemen and Arizona bikers protested this afternoon in front of the federal courthouse Downtown. In Washington, D.C., U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., released a vitriolic statement chastising president Bush for not pardoning the agents. And the U.S. Attorney's Office retaliated by issuing a lengthy list of myths surrounding the case, which has become a cause celebre among conservative activists. Former agents Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean surrendered at 1:30 p.m. to the U.S. Marshals' office inside the federal courthouse in Downtown El Paso, Marshals officials said. They were handcuffed and will be in custody, probably at the county jail, for two weeks to a month, until they can be transported to their assigned federal prisons. Rohrabacher said Ramos was assigned to a Mississippi facility and Compean to one in Ohio.

Ramos' family members said they were "heartbroken" today. They had hoped their loved ones would be permitted to stay out on bond while their appeals are pending, but U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone ruled against that option Tuesday evening. "This is a terrible day for us," said Cindy Grall, Ramos' sister-in-law. "We spent the day comforting each other and praying. We'll just continue fighting even harder." Ramos and Compean were convicted by a jury of violating the civil rights of a drug smuggler they shot in the buttocks in 2005 near Fabens as the man was fleeing to Mexico. They were also convicted of tampering with evidence for not reporting the shooting and for picking up shell casings. The trial lasted more than two and a half weeks.

Ramos was sentenced to 11 years in prison and Compean to 12 years in prison, partly due to a 10-year mandatory sentence for using a weapon in the commission of their crime. Joe Loya, Ramos father-in-law, said Ramos would be sent to a facility 1,500 miles from El Paso, making it hard for the family, which includes three young children, to visit. Supporters of the agents say the government should not have offered the drug smuggler immunity in exchange for his testimony and should have believed the agents when they said they saw a gun in the drug smuggler's hands. "Democracy is being betrayed," said Raymond Herrera, a volunteer with the Minuteman Project in California, who was at the El Paso rally today waving an American flag. "When our government takes the side of a illegal drug smuggler over the side of our Border Patrol, our democracy is broken."

Minutemen protesters were shouting "Whose streets? Our streets!" and berated El Paso photographer Brain Kanof, the brother of Debra Kanof, the assistant U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the case. Danny Smith, the founder of Freedom Riders, a group of bikers that held a rally for Ramos in Phoenix last Saturday, said he had promised to come to El Paso today. Except he thought the agents would be allowed to stay free on bond and he thought today would be "a party," he said. "I think this case in an attempt by the Justice Department and Bush to intimidate those who enforce our borders," Smith said. "Bikers are patriots." U.S. Rep. Rohrabacher and dozens of elected officials from California and elsewhere have signed petitions asking President Bush to pardon the agents. Rohrabacher today lashed out at President Bush in a statement.

"This is the worst betrayal of American defenders I have ever seen. It's shameful this was done by someone who is in the Republican Party. He obviously thinks more about his agreements with Mexico than the lives of American people and backing up his defenders," Rohrabacher said. Last Friday, White House spokesman Tony Snow was asked about the pardon and said he was "not at liberty to comment about proceedings with regard to pardons," according to the official transcript. About the case, he said, "I would invite everybody to take a full look at the documented record. This is not the case of the United States saying, we are not going to support people who go after drug dealers. Of course we are." The U.S. Attorney's office sent a release today meant to debunk myths they said are circulating around the case, such as "The agents were just doing their jobs."

"An agent is not permitted to shoot an unarmed suspect who is running away," the release says. "There was no credible evidence that the agents were in a life-threatening situation or that (the smuggler) had a weapon that would justify the use of deadly force. In fact, Border Patrol Agent (Oscar) Juárez, who was at the scene, testified at trial that he did not draw his pistol because he did not believe there was a threat. He also testified that Aldrete did not have a weapon and was almost to Mexico when Agent Compean began firing at him." The U.S. Attorney's Office also addressed the criticism that the government let the drug smuggler go free. "Because the agents could not identify him, found no fingerprints, could not tie him to the van (full of marijuana) and did not apprehend him after shooting him, the case against (the smuggler) could not be proven," the release said. Source

I’ am open to any legal ideals we can do to help the border patrol agents any help?

If my employer did to my co-workers what the federal government did to Ramos & Compean, I'd find another employer. We've all quit jobs, often 'cuz we disagreed with our employer and occasionally 'cuz their political philosophy differed from ours. No difference here. They have 30,000 opportunities to tell their employer what they think. And it's all legal.