Thread: Those backing border agents want to see evidence of wrongdoi

Where is the proof?
Those backing border agents want to see evidence of wrongdoing

http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_4550939

By Sara A. Carter, Staff Writer
10/26/2006

Drug smuggler Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila was shot in the buttocks as he ran away from two border patrol agents near the Rio Grande River in February 2005.

Department of Homeland Security officials told congressional leaders last month that two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a drug smuggler admitted to supervisors that they were "out to shoot Mexicans" the day of the shooting, but have yet to provide proof the agents made such statements.

In an effort to convince four concerned congressman that the trial, conviction and sentencing of El Paso, Texas, Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were warranted, representatives of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General met privately with the congressmen to assure them of Ramos and Compean's guilt.

The agents were convicted earlier this year of shooting admitted drug smuggler Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila in the buttocks as he ran away from them near the Rio Grande River in February 2005. Ramos and Compean were sentenced last week to 11 and 12 years, respectively, in prison.

Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, one of the congressmen at the private meeting, said he and three of his House colleagues were told by the OIG's office that the agents "were out to shoot Mexicans," and that Homeland Security had other damning information about Ramos and Compean's actions the day Aldrete-Davila was wounded.

Poe and fellow Texas Republicans John Culberson, Kenny Marchant and Michael McCaul met with the OIG officials Sept. 26 in Texas.

Those officials, however, did not provide proof of the agents' supposed confession. Instead, they said they would provide the information after last week's sentencing hearing, according to the congressmen.

Two of the congressmen, along with National Border Patrol Council President TJ Bonner and Andy Ramirez, chairman of the Chino-based Friends of the Border Patrol, now are demanding that the OIG immediately provide the evidence it promised. Both organizations have publicly supported Ramos and Compean.

Officials at the Office of Inspector General did not return phone calls for comment.

"They will provide us the information we requested. They will either provide it informally, or they will be doing it formally," Poe said.

Jack Hirschfield, a spokesman for McCaul, said the congressman's office also has asked for the OIG information.

"Congressman McCaul is interested in following the ongoing issues involved in this case," Hirschfield said.

Poe said it is unclear what type of evidence the OIG will provide against the agents, and wonders why it wasn't used in their trial.

Bonner said the OIG's claims are an effort to detour Congress from holding hearings on the agents' case in November.

"These outrageous fabrications were clearly intended to derail the congressional investigation into the circumstances underlying the prosecution of two innocent Border Patrol agents," Bonner said.

Texas U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, whose office successfully prosecuted Ramos and Compean, said at a press conference after last week's sentencing that the pair shot an unarmed suspect.

"Being a United States Border Patrol agent is not a license to shoot people," Sutton told reporters. "It is especially not a license to shoot unarmed ... suspects who are running away from you. ... It is not a license to write a report and turn it in which leaves out the fact that you shot an unarmed suspect who was running away from you."

But an Office of Inspector General memorandum obtained by the Daily Bulletin Tuesday contradicts Sutton's claim that Ramos and Compean reported Aldrete-Davila was unarmed.

The memorandum of activity was written April 4, 2005, by Christopher Sanchez, the OIG investigator who questioned Compean about the Feb. 17, 2005, shooting. Sanchez was the same agent who went to Mexico to interview Aldrete-Davila, according to documents obtained by the newspaper. Sanchez brought the smuggler back under protective custody to the United States, where he was given medical care and was granted immunity by the Texas U.S. Attorney's office to testify against the agents.

Sutton could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The six-page memo includes Compean describing what happened after Aldrete-Davila wrestled with the agent and threw dirt in his eyes.

"Compean said that Aldrete-Davila continued to look back over his shoulder towards Compean as Aldrete-Davila ran away from him," the memo reads. "Compean said that he began to shoot at Aldrete-Davila because of the shiny object he thought he saw in Aldrete-Davila's hand and because Aldrete-Davila continued to look back towards his direction. Compean explained that he thought the shiny object might be a gun and that Aldrete-Davila was going to shoot at him because he kept looking back at him."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra(cq with official web site) Kanof told the Daily Bulletin in August that the agents never told anyone the smuggler was carrying a gun. Kanof also could not be reached for comment on the incident report.

Two of Aldrete-Davila's family members, interviewed by the Daily Bulletin in El Paso last week, said Aldrete-Davila has been smuggling drugs since he was 14 and "wouldn't move drugs unless he had a gun on him," said one.

The family member, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, added that Aldrete-Davila has "been bragging about the money he's going to get in a lawsuit every time we talk to him - but now he's nervous."

Aldrete-Davila is suing the U.S. Border Patrol for $5 million for violating his civil rights.

Meanwhile, the families of both agents are still trying to understand why the government would tell congressional representatives Ramos and Compean wanted to "shoot Mexicans."

"If anybody knew our family, they would know that most of our family still lives in Mexico," said Claudia Martinez, Compean's sister. "We are of Mexican heritage. Ramos is the same. Why would they ever say such a thing?"

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Those backing border agents want to see evidence
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=45115

I hope this travesty is exposed for the pack of lies it is and Alberto Gonzales needs to be fired and the US Attorney in El Paso needs to be fired and the Border Patrol Agent that left the US and entered Mexico to bring this drug smuggler back here to devise this tall tale and waste our time and money needs to be fired and then sent to prison. We don't pay our Border Patrol Agents to enter Mexico and haul back an illegal alien; take him to the hospital; pay for his "injuries" whatever they may be; then set up the US Government for a fraudulent lawsuit by sending 2 Border Patrol Agents to jail for doing their jobs.

This stinks to high heaven.

More and more I am seeing our border patrol agents and police officers put needlessly in harms way because this administration wants to pursue their agenda for the North American Union. Officers and border patrol agents are putting their lives on the line and this is the thanks they get?????????

Well I want to say this to them from my heart! THANK YOU for all you do. Our government may not be there for you but we, the citizens ARE! NEVER FORGET THAT! The ones that know what you do and the danger you face to protect us CARE! God bless you all!

Why do I get the feeling that someone is pushing buttons as hard as they can to get something started so they can declare marshall law?

It's absurd to think that a drug smuggler would be UN-ARMED. How do they know he was unarmed? What I don't get is why the jury bought into all this!!

This is a big-time, high-level setup with deep involvement by the drug cartels! None of this makes the slightest bit of sense. It reeks of high level corruption in the Border Patrol and elsewhere. There is drug cartel money in a LOT of pockets!

I also wonder about jury tampering. All to send a message to the BP that they need to "back-off."

Is there any proof that these agents weapons actually shot the guy? I mean did they do forensics and test the bullets and match them to the Border Patrol Agents weapons with a ballistic test? Did they both aim shoot and hit him in the buttocks? They BOTH hit him in the buttocks? What are the odds of that? How many shots? From what distance? No leg, back, arm, shoulder, torso "hits"?

I think ... the Border Patrol Agent that sneaked off to Mexico to round up the guy and haul him back into the US and who took him to the hospital and probably helped him find a lawyer to file the lawsuit ... said "hey, I got a scam for us to make us rich and shut down these border patrol agents once and for all so we can get all our drugs in and I can get my big cut ... turn around and I'm going to shoot you in the butt and then haul you back to the states; get you medical help; get you immunity; and then you can file a big ass lawsuit; and we'll send these other guys to jail and from them on NO BORDER PATROL AGENT WILL EVER FIRE UPON AN ILLEGAL DRUG SMUGGLER ... and our smuggling routes are good as gold."

I think THAT's what happened.

I hope some of the Congressmen investigating this matter will look into this possibility and get to the bottom of it.

I did a little digging in the archives and found this article.

This talks about agent Sanchez from the Tucson sector being the agent that talked to the smuggler. According to this artcle the mother of the smuggler knows the mother-in-law of the agent (born in the US raised in Mexico and now a BP agent) and she put Sanchez in contact with the smuggler.
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=N ... e&sid=1423

This is the interviewwith Campeon and his wife from CNN. At about the midpoint they discuss the comment that the prosecutor made to Campeon about betraying one of his own.

http://lawatchdog.net/videoclips/060811 ... ustice.wmv

I've wondered all the way through this if the prosecutor, Debra Kanof, might be a former ACLU lawyer. I have nothing to base this on, but from her comment about betraying their race and after having seen her on TV, I've had a gut feeling that she might previously have worked for or maybe still is a card-carrying member of the ACLU.

Originally Posted by Kate

I've wondered all the way through this if the prosecutor, Debra Kanof, might be a former ACLU lawyer. I have nothing to base this on, but from her comment about betraying their race and after having seen her on TV, I've had a gut feeling that she might previously have worked for or maybe still is a card-carrying member of the ACLU.

You could be right, KATE.

The aclu grooms them and then sends them out into government. SCOTUS & ruth b ginsberg is an excellent example. These little clones are everywhere in every level.