Posted on 02/06/2007 8:05:37 PM PST by NapkinUser
A jailed Border Patrol agent who has become a cause célèbre for those seeking tougher border enforcement and controls on immigration allegedly was beaten by fellow inmates last week. The incident has caused Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) to renew his demand that two incarcerated agents, of whom the victim of the alleged attack is one, receive a presidential pardon.
Tancredo called the alleged attack "an atrocity" and blamed it on the Bush administration. Ignacio Ramos is one of two Border Patrol agents who each received prison sentences of more than a decade for shooting at a fleeing drug-smuggling suspect at the border.
The case has outraged some conservatives who think the U.S. is siding with a criminal and not those trying to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country.
"Not only did the administration choose the side of a foreign dope-runner over the agents who stopped him from smuggling a load of drugs into the country - now they've failed to protect that agent while his case is on appeal," Tancredo said. The lawmaker has been in contact with the Ramos family since the alleged incident. "If the administration's goal was to deliver a one-two knockout punch to Border Patrol morale, they certainly succeeded," he added.
The White House, however, had a different take on the severity of the incident than Tancredo, who said Ramos was "severely" beaten.
Bush spokesman Tony Snow read a statement to reporters Tuesday from Charles Smith, who represents the prison in which Ramos is serving his sentence.
The statement said Ramos reported he had been assaulted and medical staff found some minor injuries. Snow said Ramos was placed in a special housing unit at the prison pending an investigation into the matter.
The White House spokesman said the president would not waive standard procedures in this case.
"We want to be careful about issuing pardons, and we're trying to be careful about the facts, which is why the Department of Justice is in the process of trying to get full transcripts of the trial of Agents [Jose Alonso] Compean and Ramos," he said.
Tancredo said the "administration has for too long turned their back on law enforcement and left them to fend for themselves" and called Ramos and Compean "victims of what the Bush administration's border enforcement policy has always been."
Don't just pardon them. As I've said before give them a promotion and pay raise for doing their jobs !!!
Ping.
I guess minor or severe depends on you being the one being beaten or not. Why did it even happen to begin with?
It might be better if Tancredo stayed out of it, or at least keeps a low profile. We don't want it made into an immigration issue. If he gets too involved, it will just politicize the whole business.
As to whether Ramos was "severely beaten" or just beaten, I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference. Especially with the new revelations suggesting that they were framed.
I just saw an episode of "Cops" where a guy tries to grab a Texas cop's gun, and the cop and his partner open up with around 20 shots at the criminal as he RUNS AWAY!!!
Nobody arrested the cops. They arrested the criminal.
Something is definitely wrong here. When a guy commits a felony and then proceeds to run away, you SHOOT HIM! You do not allow him to go endanger other people.
If a rattlesnake is crouched near your leg you shoot it. If it slithers away, you SHOOT IT. Why leave it to kill someone else?
He immigrated to Mexico.
WWTFD
What would The Founders do?
It's hard (probably not hard) to imagine the outrage our nations Founders would feel if they could somehow see this.
I agree and they need to take those agents out of jail right now. They should not be in there. Heck, they can get a stupid actor out; why not heroes?
Might as well.
What they have will likely appear here when they get info posted:
Meanwhile I'll check elsewhere....
Sara Carter reports on the beating of an imprisoned Border Patrol agent************************88The News:**********************
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Two convicted former El Paso Border Patrol agents accused by the U.S. Attorney of not filing a report when they shot a Mexican drug smuggler were prohibited by their own agency's firearms policy from doing so, according to documents obtained by the Daily Bulletin.
Beyond Borders: View our special section on immigration [...MORE] |
Where is PSEUDO-Republican President George Bush???
Gracias, Jorge. Tu es el hombre.
White House Comment Line 1-202-456-1111 Monday through Friday, 9-5 ET. Call home.
Keep digging, Ernest and Carolyn.
***********************************AN EXCERPT*****************************
Two convicted former El Paso Border Patrol agents accused by the U.S. Attorney of not filing a report when they shot a Mexican drug smuggler were prohibited by their own agency's firearms policy from doing so, according to documents obtained by the Daily Bulletin.
Meanwhile, the government made public Monday its response to Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos' October motion to reduce his sentence.
The response contends that Ramos and fellow agent Jose Alonso Compean knowingly shot an unarmed suspect, filed a false report, and that supervisors were not notified.
Attached to the motion were domestic violence arrest reports regarding three disputes Ramos had with his wife, Monica. Those documents were not admissible during the agents' trial. Ramos was not charged with a crime stemming from the incidents.
Ramos and Compean were convicted last spring for shooting Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, a Mexican drug smuggler, in the buttocks on Feb. 17, 2005. The agents are now serving 11 and 12 years, respectively, in federal prison.
The agents were convicted partly due to the government's successful argument at trial that the two men failed to file a report about the shooting.
But U.S. Border Patrol firearms policy specifically states that agents are prohibited from filing a report if a shooting incident takes place and that only an oral report to supervisors is required.
"Ensure that supervisory personnel or INS investigating officers are aware that employees involved in a shooting incident shall not be required or allowed to submit a written statement of the circumstances surrounding the incident," according to the firearms policy.
"All written statements regarding the incident shall be prepared by the local INS investigating officers and shall be based upon an interview of the INS employee."
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Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General documents obtained by the paper show that all nine agents on the scene at the time of the shooting - including two supervisors - knew shots had been fired.
Oscar Garcia, El Paso Border Patrol Union representative with Local 1929 and a firearms instructor, said that the Report of Apprehension or Seizure filed by Compean and Ramos on the day of the incident was accurate. Garcia stated that the agent's omission of the shooting in the drug seizure report followed firearms policy.
"Our own policy prohibits them from filing any report on the shooting incident," Garcia said. "The U.S. Attorney's assertion that they covered up the incident by not filing a report is ridiculous."
Johnny Sutton, the U.S. attorney for western Texas whose office prosecuted the case against the agents, contends the agents didn't report the shooting to supervisors who arrived on scene and knowingly lied about the incident
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Arnold and Richards were the two supervisors on the scene that day.
Richards was given a promotion shortly after the incident and testified against the agents. Agents Vasquez, Juarez and Jaquez were given immunity from prosecution to testify against Ramos and Compean.
See #17...there was more on the interview....apparently if shots are fired and no one is hit as seemed to be the case at the time....the customary procedure is not to bother with filing any kind of report....I think that is what I heard....
fyi
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