Lawmakers Say Mexico Close to Releasing Marine Sgt. Tahmooressi from Prison

Lawmakers Say Mexico Close to Releasing Marine Sgt. Tahmooressi from Prison

The Blaze
Oct. 1, 2014
Pete Kasperowicz

Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Wednesday that they believe Mexico will soon release Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, the U.S. Marine who has been held prisoner in Mexico after he crossed into that country carrying weapons in violation of Mexican law.

Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) said he met with Tahmooressi in prison back in June, and has continued to press Mexican authorities for his release. Royce said he made a breakthrough in a talk last week with Mexican authorities about Tahmooressi, who has been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

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Andrew Tahmooressi has been held by Mexican authorities since March 31. (Photo via WSVN-TV)

“Last week I had a good and productive conversation with the Mexican Attorney General and am confident that a humanitarian release of Andrew will occur very soon so he can start getting better,” Royce said at the start of a House hearing on the matter Wednesday.

At the hearing, Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) added that Mexico’s Attorney General has told lawmakers that Tahmooressi can be released once Mexico receives proof of Tahmooressi’s medical condition. Salmon said lawmakers just sent medical information about Tahmooressi to Mexico, which is why they hope he may soon be able to return home.

“He has the authority within Mexican law to dismiss Sgt. Tahmooressi’s case on humanitarian grounds once he has expert testimony that verifies his combat-specific PTSD diagnosis,” Salmon said. “Chairman Royce and I obtained the appropriate expert medical reports, and forwarded them to the Mexican Attorney General’s desk this past Friday.”

Tahmooressi’s case has frustrated many U.S. lawmakers, in large part because of Tahmooressi’s medical condition, which is difficult to properly treat in Mexico. The Marine has been held in prison since March.

His detention has also led to some frustrations with the Obama administration, which many say has not done enough to press Mexico on Tahmooressi’s release.

“I am mystified that President Obama couldn’t find time, between negotiating with terrorists, to call our ally, the Mexican president, to appeal to him on behalf of our Marine,” Salmon said at the hearing.

“The fact is that Mexican citizens violate U.S. law on a regular and continuing basis, illegally crossing our southern border,” Salmon added. “Mexican officials respond by asking the U.S. for compassion and amnesty for their citizens to remain in the U.S. But frankly, compassion goes both ways.”

By late August, more than 134,000 people had signed a petition asking the Obama administration to demand that Mexico release Tahmooressi. The White House responded that U.S. officials have continued to talk with Mexico in an effort to win his release.

“We respect the rule of law and expect the judicial process of sovereign nations to protect other U.S. citizens who might find themselves in similar circumstances in the future,” the White House said. “We will continue to monitor the case and work with the Mexican authorities as this case proceeds through the Mexican judicial system.”


http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014...i-from-prison/

Shared publicly - 10:31 AM #Obama

Montel Williams Pleads With Obama To "Make The Call Today" For Imprisoned Marine http://ow.ly/2Owy9w



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Montel Williams Pleads With Obama To "Make The Call Today" For Imprisoned Marine
ow.ly
00 Talk show host Montel Williams urged President Obama to “make the call” to Mexican President Enrique Nieto to release imprisoned Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi before the House Committee on




MSNBC’s Chris Hayes: Sgt. Tahmooressi’s Holding In Mexico Is a ‘Cause Célèbre In the Conservative Media’

By Curtis Houck | October 2, 2014 | 12:42 AM EDT


After the major broadcast networks offered no morning or evening news coverage of jailed Marine Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi’s mother testifying before Congress on Wednesday, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes concluded his primetime show All In by discussing the case with retired U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander and former talk show host Montel Williams (who also testified).
In describing the case, Hayes determined that Tahmooressi’s plight has become a “kind of cause célèbre in conservative media” (instead of suggesting that it deserves to be a national one). [MP3 audio here; Video below]
Following a small monologue of what he knew about the situation, Hayes told Williams that “this case is heartbreaking, it's horrible to imagine what this guy's going through,” but “[h]e's being charged under the Mexican judiciary system. We just can't, like, bust into a Mexican prison and break him out.”
Williams then responded and was clearly not amused. He mocked Hayes by saying that “[y]eah, it’s really funny that we can say this,” before correcting him on his argument that there is little the U.S. can do since Tahmooressi was not active duty. Williams stated that the U.S. government had diagnosed him with PTSD both the day of and week before he was arrested and “[e]ven though he's not active duty, he served two tours in Afghanistan” and was “being treated in his reserve status” when he was flown to San Diego “under military auspices.”
Next, Williams went about correcting Hayes on the circumstances of his arrest and why the U.S. government should do more to ensure his release:

He was in Mexico. He left Mexico and came to a parking lot which is right outside the border, and there have been multiple people, including Congressmen, who have gone down and followed the exact same path. This young man is diagnosed by our government, diagnosed by the Mexican government for PTSD....He left, he said to his mother, he got freaked out a little bit while he was in Mexico. He knew he had to get out of there and why? Because, you know, people suffering from PTSD have a hypersense of awareness around them. They have a trigger point. If he was triggered in Mexico and got in his car, I’m going to tell you, he probably didn't even see the signs [marking the Mexican border]

When the liberal host became flustered and tried to create a hypothetical situation where the tables were turned and the U.S. had captured a Mexican citizen and asked Williams again to respect "a Mexican judicial process,” Williams countered by bringing up how the U.S. government hasn’t done anything to turn away “60,000 illegal children who come in this country” and instead “give[s] them medical care...no matter what their illness is.”
Williams continued:

You do not treat a mentally ill person this way. We've got to stop acting like soldier who ran amok. He's been diagnosed with combat PTSD. I've been trying to make this point all day because people don't understand. This is not a guy whose just sitting around depressed.

The full transcript from the segment that aired on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes on October 1 can be found below.

All In with Chris Hayes
October 1, 2014
8:54 p.m. Eastern
MONTEL WILLIAMS [SPEAKING TO HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS]: Sergeant Tahmooressi's time in this prison has been worse than his time in both combat situations. He's going to come back to the United States and have to be treated for his combat PTSD, but also his incarceration PTSD and, to me this is an abomination. Six months. He didn't hesitate to say “aye, aye, sir,” to go off and serve. How dare we, how dare we as a nation hesitate to get that young man back?
http://newsbusters.org/s3/files/styl...?itok=ZAr7CeIhCHRIS HAYES: Talk show host and retired Lieutenant Commander of the U.S. Navy, Montel Williams testified earlier today for a House Committee on Foreign Affairs focusing on the case of 25-year-old Marine veteran Andrew Tahmooressi. Tahmooressi was apprehended on March 31 of this year driving across the Mexican border with three loaded weapons and more than 400 rounds of ammunition. He's now on trial in Mexico for the possession of those weapons and if convicted, faces up to 21 years behind bars. Tahmooressi contends he accidently missed the last exit on Interstate 5 and accidently crossed the Mexican border. His mother, a nurse, says that Tahmooressi suffers from PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, following two tours of duty in Afghanistan. According to the San Diego Tribune, two Mexican psychiatrists who have individually examined Tahmooressi for the defense and prosecution concurred this week that he suffers from combat-related PTSD. Since being in custody, Tahomooressi’s tried to escape by climbing over a gate and tried to kill himself when he grabbed a light bulb and stabbed himself in the neck. This case has become a kind of cause célèbre in the conservative media, particularly during Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl controversy. As you may recall, Sergeant Bergdahl’s released from the Taliban was secured by the Obama administration in June after working with the Qatari government. In the case of Andrew Tahmooressi, he is not active duty and was apprehended on normal criminal circumstances in a neighboring country, both the Mexican and U.S. governments say he is being held under the due process of Mexican law. Joining me now is Montel Williams. Great to have you here.
WILLIAMS: Great be here.
HAYES: Ok, so, first of all, this case is heartbreaking, it's horrible to imagine what this guy's going through. It seems to me – I'm not a lawyer – the best result would be for him to be released back to the U.S., it didn't seem he did anything horrible, no one got hurt, he said he’s made a mistake. That said, the U.S. government will say, “look, we visited him 22 times. He's being charged under the Mexican judiciary system. We just can't, like, bust into a Mexican prison and break him out.”
http://newsbusters.org/s3/files/styl...?itok=KpIzFHYfWILLIAMS: Yeah, it’s really funny that we can say this. First of all, I want to correct you on one thing. The U.S. government has declared and diagnosed him with PTSD. They did so the week before he was arrested, they did so the day he was arrested. He was flown to San Diego under military auspices. Even though he's not active duty, he served two tours in Afghanistan. He's being treated in his reserve status right now, but that reserve status was where he was diagnosed at.
HAYES: Yeah. Right, yeah.
WILLIAMS: So we got to get that part clear. Now we say, “no, I don't want the U.S. government to go and bomb anybody.” That's not what the point is. The point is that we have an ill soldier who crossed the line and as did you the description of how this happened., it didn't happen that way. He was in Mexico. He left Mexico and came to a parking lot which is right outside the border, and there have been multiple people, including Congressmen, who have gone down and followed the exact same path. This young man is diagnosed by our government, diagnosed by the Mexican government for PTSD. He served with honor in Afghanistan. Let me tell you about PTSD. He left, he said to his mother, he got freaked out a little bit while he was in Mexico. He knew he had to get out of there and why? Because, you know, people suffering from PTSD have a hypersense of awareness around them. They have a trigger point. If he was triggered in Mexico and got in his car, I’m going to tell you, he probably didn't even see the signs. He turned in and the evidence is correct and clear cause they put it in the court last week in Mexico, they showed the tape of him pulling up to the turnstile.
HAYES: But – but, Montel, my point’s like – even – say that's all true, right?
WILLIAMS: Yes.
HAYES: That – that this was a horrible accident.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
http://newsbusters.org/s3/files/styl...?itok=MseRzaljHAYES: Yeah, right. Like, that he shouldn't be there, right? Isn't it the case there's still a Mexican judicial process. If we had a Mexican national who we had grabbed for something.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
HAYES: Yep, right. And he's in an American prison, the Mexican government doesn't get to come in and say, “look, give him back.” Right? I mean, we're going to try him, go through the normal procedure. We hopefully achieve the right just end.
WILLIAMS: What's the first thing we do – what’s the first thing we've done to 60,000 illegal children who come in this country? We give them medical care.
HAYES: Yeah.
WILLIAMS: We've treated them to no matter what their illness is. If we arrest someone coming into this country illegally and they have cancer, they’re going to go to a cancer ward. This is a person whose being held by one of our closest allies.
HAYES: Allies.
WILLIAMS: And will refuses to give him the commensurate you are at medical treatment.
HAYES: So, so the part of the issue is he's not receiving what he needs psychiatrically?
WILLIAMS: The issue here is among peers and friends and neighbors and countries who have treaties.
HAYES: Yes.
WILLIAMS: You do not treat a mentally ill person this way. We've got to stop acting like soldier who ran amok. He's been diagnosed with combat PTSD. I've been trying to make this point all day because people don't understand. This is not a guy whose just sitting around depressed.
HAYES: Clearly – not, clearly he has issues.
http://newsbusters.org/s3/files/styl...?itok=ND0JxfDHWILLIAMS: He has issues. Let’s also talk about the fact that he tried to commit suicide in prison, he tried to escape. It’s because the people down there had him at one point tied to a bed four poster tying and the guards were betting amongst each other who could beat him the best. So, we have a U.S. soldier being held, a Marine. I'm a Marine, I went through boot camp in 1974. This is a real deal right here and this guy right here is a troop that should not be left behind and this government’s got to do everything it can to get him back.
HAYES: Montel Williams, thank you so much for your time.
WILLIAMS: Thank you so much.

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Curtis Houck
Bio | Archive
Curtis Houck is a news analyst for the Media Research Center's News Analysis Division
More from Curtis Houck


http://newsbusters.org/blogs/curtis-...n=hayes-montel

Mexico is about 7 months late in doing the right thing. But then Mexico is an aggressor and refuses to recognize our sovereignty. they seem to enjoy torturing any American that they can get in their jails. It is not the first time and they seem to delight in making it as inhumane as possible. Boycott the insufferable country.

MARINE VETERAN HELD IN MEXICAN JAIL TO BE RELEASED TODAY

http://humanevents.com/uploads/2012/...on-620x361.jpg
By: John Hayward
12/21/2012 09:51 AM

Good news, courtesy of Fox News’ Brett Baier on Twitter: “Jon Hammar, the U.S. Marine imprisoned in Mexico on a gun charge, will be released today.”

Hammar, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, was arrested by Mexican authorities in August for carrying his grandfather’s antique shotgun across the border, during a vacation trip to do some surfing – an activity that helped him deal with post-traumatic stress disorder from his combat experiences. He’s been held at the Matamoros state prison, which is not a comfortable facility:

Hammar’s imprisonment has been characterized as a bureaucracy gone mad. He displayed his unloaded antique shotgun to both American and Mexican border patrol agents. The U.S. agents examined it carefully, found it satisfied all the rules for transit into Mexico, and gave him some paperwork to fill out. The Mexican border patrol promptly declared the unmodified barrel of the weapon was one inch too short and arrested him. Various little “mistakes” and bureaucratic “errors” left Hammar tumbling through the Mexican court system like a ball bearing in a pachinko machine, until he landed in that cell… where he might have spent the next twelve years.

It would be tough to describe today’s announcement of release as a “happy” ending, but it’s certainly better than 12 years in a Mexican jail. The confusing part of the story is why President Obama didn’t intervene to secure Hammar’s release. All he had to do was say that Hammar was bringing his gun to a Mexican drug lord, on behalf of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and everything would have been
fine.http://humanevents.com/2012/12/21/ma...eleased-today/

Sgt Andrew Tahmooressi , jailed in Mexico 214 days .Free our Marine !
Brother of my heart . ♥ Pray for Andy .
http://www.freetahmooressi.com
#tahmooressi



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Please Help Bring him home!

USMC Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi is a decorated Marine, meritoriously promoted, and is currently in the Reserves. He served his country with honor in two tours in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Tahmooressi is currently being held in a Mexican Prison since March 31st 2014. Andrew was in San Diego receiving treatment for a recently diagnosed PTSD condition when he made a wrong turn and ended up at the Mexican border. He informed the border patrol agents he did not want to enter Mexico and that he had all his belongings with him including three personal firearms that are legally registered to him. Andrew placed a 911 call to seek help, but they informed him that if he already crossed into Mexico, they could not help him, and he was subsequently arrested on weapons charges and held in Tijuana's La Mesa Penitentiary. There, he was threatened by inmates, stripped and beaten repeatedly by guards, denied water, and chained to his cot for more than 30 days. He has since been moved to El Hongo prison in Tecate.

Andrew's family has been working diligently to get him released. They have experienced legal obstacles and have had to fire his first two attorneys due to various reasons. He now has a third lawyer, Fernando Benitez Alvarez del Castillo, who the family feels is extremely competent and able to expedite the judicial process to get Andrew released. As of right now, a court hearing date has been set for August 4th.

​ A White House petition was created on May 1st, 2014 and family and friends worked tirelessly to get the required 100,000 signatures in order to get a statement by the President Obama. Sadly, after 3 months of meeting the 130,000 signature mark, they finally received what looks like a computer generated auto reply. Sgt. Tahmooressi's Mother is still waiting for the White House to contact her directly about whats being done to help.

In addition to the petition, the family has been working hard for Andrew's release with help from the State Department, local and national politicians including Rep. Duncan Hunter and Sarah Palin, and numerous caring and dedicated newscasters including Greta Van Susteren, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity.

USMC SGT Andrew Tahmooressi

FreetAHMOORESSI.COM

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"NOT ANOTHER DAY!"

Free Andrew!

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Legal Disclaimer: "To clarify: No organizations or individuals other than Jill Tahmooressi or Serving California are authorized to make a statement on the Tahmooressi 's behalf.."



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STILL WAITING!!!!!!

This has gone on way too long. So our president hasn't made any kind of attempt to help this decorated Marine with PTSD get released, right? Sgt. Tahmooressi will get released, just hope he will be physically and emotionally ok. Infuriating!

10/31/2014

http://www.alipac.us/f9/marine-vet-r...n-jail-313808/

Screw Mexico. Congress should declare War on them until they return our marine. Let the bombings begin!

W

He is on a private plane with his mother headed to Florida.