Monday, April 2, 2007
Last modified Sunday, April 1, 2007 9:40 PM PDT

Family of imprisoned agent speaks to Escondido church

By: TERI FIGUEROA - Staff Writer

ESCONDIDO ---- In the midst of an emotional, national tug-of-war over illegal immigration, it's a case that stirred controversy: Two U.S. Border Patrol agents shoot a suspected drug mule and land in federal prison, each sentenced to more than a decade for assault, obstruction of justice and civil rights violations.
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The shooting happened hundreds of miles from North County, along a lonely stretch of border near El Paso, Texas, where the Rio Grande separates the United States from Mexico.

But the story found itself front and center in Escondido on Sunday, when the wife and father-in-law of one of the convicted agents shared the story of their struggles during a service at North County Baptist Church.

"It's just been a nightmare," Monica Ramos said as she stood in front of the congregation. "Two years ago, I never thought I'd be standing here, being my husband's voice."

Ramos' husband, Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos, was a senior agent with the Border Patrol for 10 years when the shooting occurred in February 2005.

Ramos and fellow agent Jose Alonso Compean were imprisoned earlier this year for shooting Osvaldo Aldrete Davila in the backside after he struggled with one of them and fled on foot toward Mexico. Davila made it back across the border to Mexico and sped off in a waiting car.

According to reports, said the agents were unaware that Davila had been hit by gunfire and did not initially inform superiors that shots had been fired.

Before the shooting, the agents and others were chasing Davila as he drove a van, which he ditched during the pursuit. It turned out that the van contained about 750 pounds of marijuana.

Later, at their trial, the agents testified that Davila had something shiny in his hand and pointed it at them. Davila, who was given immunity, testified that he had nothing of the sort.

The jury acquitted the agents of attempted murder, but convicted them on other charges.

Ramos and Compean went to prison in January to begin serving their sentences: 11 years for Ramos, 12 years for Compean.

The bulk of their sentences is the 10-year statutory sentence for using a firearm during a violent crime.

The agents' case has spurred passionate support and opposition as the nation finds itself in a heated debate over illegal immigration, especially in border areas from California to Texas.

Supporters of the agents say that the two men were law enforcement officers doing their job, that Davila was a drug runner and that the wrong man went free while the agents sit behind bars.

Opponents, including local immigrant rights activists, point out that Davila says he was unarmed and was shot as he ran away.

"What they did was absolutely wrong and they acted above the law," Enrique Morones, founder of faith-based groups Border Angels and Gente Unida said Friday. "They shot somebody in the back and tried to hide the evidence."

At the moment of the confrontation, Morones said, the two agents did not know that Davila was a drug mule.

"They found out later," he said. "They didn't know it when the made a spur of the moment decision."

In their quest to free the agents, Monica Ramos and her father, Joe Loya, have found themselves on the national media circuit and speaking at engagements from coast to coast.

Clint Miller is the pastor of North County Baptist Church ---- soon to be renamed Oasis Church ---- and the invitation to Ramos and Loya was his doing.

"I felt the call of the Lord to stand up and be on the front lines and be a part of it," Miller told the crowd. "I'm so deeply sorry for what these families are going through."

During the service, with red, white and blue banners, balloons and flags adorning the church, the congregation jumped to their feet to applaud the family of the convicted agent.

Miller, whose services are televised locally and nationally, encouraged people to visit Ramos' Web site, to send him letters in prison and to donate money to his cause.

Monica Ramos clutched a tissue, one she would use often on stage. Her father held an American flag.

"It's so hard for a grown man to find a place to cry," Loya told the congregation. "Sometimes, I have to hide."

Loya said the family has spent $250,000 in his son-in-law's defense so far.

Monica Ramos said the time in prison has been hard on her husband, who was moved to an isolated cell in a Mississippi federal prison after taking what his wife described as "a severe beating" at the hands of fellow inmates.

She said she and their sons live through the letters he sends. Phone privileges are minimal: 15 minutes a month. He is in a cell for 23 hours a day.

"A little bit of him dies every day," Monica Ramos said after the service.

She said the plan is to appeal her husband's case, and that she is losing hope for a presidential pardon.

As for the reaction she has gotten, it has been mostly wide support. There have been a few death threats, but the opposition from her standpoint has been minimal, she said.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/04 ... 203807.txt