Thread: Senate Takes Up Border Agent Case

Fred Lucas
Staff Writer
(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Senate is set to launch an investigation into why an imprisoned former Border Patrol agent who should have had special protection was assaulted by four other inmates.

The investigation will also look at the entire controversial case of two border agents who were convicted and jailed after shooting a suspected drug smuggler from Mexico in El Paso, Texas. Prosecutors offered the suspected drug smuggler an immunity deal to return to the U.S. and testify against the two agents.

An episode that had already sparked outrage took a new turn over the weekend when one of the two, Ignacio Ramos, 38, was assaulted by four other inmates at the federal prison in Yazoo City, Miss.

Some of the assailants were speaking Spanish and kicked him with steel-toed boots. The beating occurred after a segment about the case appeared on "America's Most Wanted."

"I urge the committee to look into why these agents are not being protected while in the federal prison system," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said in a letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asking for a probe.

"It is not hard to predict that two federal agents would be targeted in a prison population and that special precautions should be employed to ensure their safety," she said.

Leahy has granted Feinstein permission to pursue the investigation, Leahy spokeswoman Tracey Schmaler said. Feinstein is the chairwoman of a Judiciary subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security.

An investigation into the affair began in the last Congress but was stalled when the Democrats took control. Feinstein wants to pick up where that investigation left off.

A Senate investigation would involve research, interviews and potential subpoenas, with findings reported back to the committee.

It wouldn't necessarily involve a hearing, Feinstein spokesman Scott Gerber told Cybercast News Service . Gerber didn't know Thursday what the timeline or stages of the investigation would involve.

Thus far, Feinstein is the most prominent Democrat in Congress to speak out on the issue. Several House Republicans have been highly vocal on the matter, urging President Bush to pardon Ramos, sentenced to 12 years and Jose Compean, 30, sentenced to 11 years, where he is serving in a federal prison in Elkton, Ohio.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) even warned of "impeachment talk" if either of the agents is murdered in prison.

At least one head should roll because of the lack of protection for the incarcerated ex-agents, according to Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.).

When the two started their jail terms last month, Hunter sent a letter to Harley Lappin, director of the Federal Bureau of Prison, asking that they be separated from general population in the prison because fellow inmates could include the type of drug smugglers and felons they had helped to apprehend as border agents.

John M. Vanyur, an assistant director at the bureau, responded, informing Hunter that the two agents were classified in the Central Inmate Monitoring System.

"This classification provides protection to all individuals concerned, ensure(s) they are monitored closely by staff and are carefully evaluated during the designation process as well as throughout their incarceration," Vanyur said.

Despite the pledge to monitor the agents, it was Ramos who "reported to staff that he had been assaulted," according to Traci Billingsley, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons in a statement released immediately after the assault. Since the incident, Ramos has been separated from the general population.

Hunter wrote a letter to Bush this week, asking that Lapin be discharged for not protecting the agent and for misinforming Congress.

The Bureau of Prisons did not respond to phone calls or emailed requests for reaction Thursday.

Unlike Ramos, Compean has always been isolated from the rest of the federal prison population and will remain so, according to a statement from his family.

The episode began when Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila drove across the Mexican border into the United States in a van later found to be carrying 743 pounds of marijuana. Ramos and Compean shot at him a total of 15 times. Aldrete-Davila was hit just once, in the buttocks, before escaping back into Mexico.

A 77-page report released Wednesday by the inspector general's office of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reportedly concurs with the prosecution's case that the two agents tried to cover up the shooting by hiding the shell casings and lying to their supervisors.

Nonetheless, Feinstein said the sentences are too harsh.

"These men were given sentences that some individuals who are convicted of murder wouldn't receive," she said in her letter.

The government has confirmed the Mexican citizen is under investigation for a separate drug offense, though he hasn't been arrested or indicted, but evidence concerning the second matter was not allowed into the trial of the two agents.

Aldrete-Davila is considering a $5 million lawsuit against the federal government for the shooting, his lawyer recently confirmed.

http://www.crosswalk.com/news/11529378/

according to a report by DHS, there was no coverup by the two agents. There were two senior supervisors on the scene and they made the decision not to do a written report. while the two men should have more than likely filed a report anyway, once the supervisors made the decision that a written report was not needed then they took responsibility for the actions. Why were they not on trial. sound likes Bush made an agreement with mexico to send the border agents to jail as a warning to other law enforcement agents trying to protect America.

Enough is enough. Protection of America is what Congress and the president were elected for. Not to say happy birthday to members of their district or state, not to get airplanes to fly back and forth to their states unless they pay for it. Not to defend countries in civil war. Not to give America away by free trade agreements and opening our borders to anyone.

According to the procedures in place and codified by the INS manual, (and yes, these regulations go back that far and have NOT been changed), they are expressly PROHIBITED from making a written report. The requirement is to VERBALLY report to a supervisor. Since TWO supervisors were ON SCENE and verbally reported to, the charge is BOGUS.

Beckyal wrote:

Enough is enough. Protection of America is what Congress and the president were elected for. Not to say happy birthday to members of their district or state, not to get airplanes to fly back and forth to their states unless they pay for it. Not to defend countries in civil war. Not to give America away by free trade agreements and opening our borders to anyone

Well Said

Oh the Senate is actually going to look into this case. Oh that's so big of them. You mean they are actually taking time away from whoring for votes and campaign dollars to order to actually do their real jobs? No, this can't be happening. But don't rush or anything, please time your sweet ole time, only two innocent men are rotting in jail over this, no big deal. Surely this doesn't take presidence over taking two month long tax payer paid vacations, whoring for votes and campaign dollars, voting yourselves in yet another huge pay raise, kissing foreign leaders arses, deciding how big of a limo or plane your going to need to pimp around in, deciding how much your going to rape the tax payers for with your pointless pork barrel projects, pointing the finger at one another deciding who should be in charge and who's the worst of the two evil parties.

Really I'm glad that you guys have come off your perches in order to take time to help out us pessants. Yeah whatever, by the time these fools are done these agents will either have served their time already or be dead.