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(CNSNews.com) – In the waning days of the Bush administration, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is mulling whether to recommend a commutation for the two former Border Patrol agents jailed for more than a decade each for shooting a Mexican drug smuggler in the buttocks. The case is now before the DOJ’s Pardon Attorney Donald Rodgers. The Office of Pardon Attorney works in consultation with the attorney general’s office to assist the president, who has sole power of clemency in federal cases under the Constitution. Ultimately, it is the president’s call regardless of what the Office of Pardon Attorney recommends....

As I noted in a post during the Republican convention in September, there was something fishy about the Republicans' use of the slogan "Country First" in the recent campaign. Why not "America First?" We got the answer the other day when the Bush administration continued its attack on the two U.S. Border Patrol agents who were sentenced to long jail terms for shooting and wounding a drug smuggler. The Bush Justice Department continued to go after the men this week and succeeded in an effort to prevent any significant reduction in the sentences of former agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose...

Justice: Two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a drug smuggler have been resentenced for the crime of protecting the borders of the United States. Mr. President, you do not have the right to remain silent.Former agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean are 20 months into their sentences for shooting drug dealer Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, who tried to elude the two agents after driving a van near Fabens, Texas, that was found to hold 743 pounds of marijuana. He tried to flee back to Mexico and was shot in the buttocks by the agents who had reason to believe he...

(CNSNews.com) – A federal judge left unchanged the decade-plus prison sentences for two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a Mexican drug smuggler in early 2005. The ruling could be the final chapter of a controversial legal case that began along the Texas-Mexican border and erupted into a political and media firestorm. The prosecutor in the case, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton of the Western District of Texas, was satisfied with the outcome. “It was a very righteous prosecution,” Sutton told CNSNews.com on Thursday. “The court of appeals and anyone who has looked at the facts has agreed with that. The...

A second former Border Patrol agent who received a lengthy sentence in a case involving the shooting of a fleeing drug smuggler has been resentenced to his original 11 years and a day in prison, as the agents' supporters hold out hope for presidential pardons. Ignacio Ramos got the same sentence two years ago when he was convicted in the shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, an admitted, and now convicted, drug smuggler. On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Cardone gave Ramos' partner, Jose Alonso Compean, his original 12-year sentence, 10 years on a charge of using a weapon in...

<p>I just wanted to let you know so that we can get the word out that Nacho will be resentenced at 9am on November 13th in El Paso.</p> <p>This could be the only opportunity for everyone to see him before they take him back and lock him up again. I'm still trying to gather more information on the resentence. It has to do with our first appeal - they dropped one of the charges and ruled that he had to be resentenced.</p>

EL PASO, Texas — Two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a drug smuggler and trying to cover it up have been denied a request for a new hearing. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans denied the request by Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean on Wednesday. The same court upheld the men's convictions in July. No reason was given for the Wednesday's denial. Ramos and Compean are each serving sentences of more than 10 years for shooting Osvaldo Aldrete Davila in the buttocks while he was fleeing from an abandoned marijuana load in 2005....

I heard Glenn Beck talking about them the other day and I was thinking about their situation... what did these men do wrong?! They are in prison for doing their jobs. This goes beyond tying one hand behind our border patrol agents' backs; this is like lopping their arms off and kicking them on the ground. These men literally did nothing wrong yet they sit rotting in federal prison for more than a decade. The leaders of the country they swore to protect have betrayed them both and have left them to a horrible fate. I can think of no...

JUST IN FROM JOE LOYA... ************************* Agent Ramos' father-in-law, Joe Loya, just spoke via the telephone to Raymond Herrera. Agent Ramos' youngest son was discharged today from Children's Hospital, Houston, TX. He underwent a multitude of tests, including "interior tests" to the neck, ear, back and kidneys. Agent Ramos was afforded a phone call to his son while he was in the hospital - his son will be readmitted to the hospital after a visit with his mother, Monica Ramos, in Arizona. *************************************************************

What happened to justice in America? It certainly wasn’t served on July 28 when the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the unjust convictions of Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. As it stands today, these two brave border protectors must now serve out their full 10-plus-year sentences for shooting and wounding a Mexican drug smuggler they encountered while he was carrying a million-dollar payload of narcotics along the Southern border in Texas. What started off as simple procedural mistakes by the agents has turned into an unimaginable travesty of justice unlike anything I’ve ever seen in...

Rep. Tom Tancredo today nenewed his call for the release of Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean amid recent reports that the star witness, illegal alien Oswaldo Davila, was arrested for the third time attempting to smuggle drugs across the U.S.-Mexican border. Tancredo seeks Congressional approval of a legislative provision that would free the two imprisoned agents by preventing the expenditure of any federal funds to carry out the sentences imposed on the two men, effectively freeing them from federal custody. Osvaldo Davila, an illegal alien who has been three times apprehended attempting to smuggle drugs into the United States,...

Hunter Pledges To Build Border Fence In Six Months By: Joe Murray, The Bulletin 08/16/2007 Las Vegas - On Tuesday night, it wasn't the ring of the slot machines or the glow of the neon lights that was attracting the attention at Arizona Charlie's, a small casino a few miles off the famed Vegas Strip. Rather, it was the pledge of Duncan Hunter, a California congressman and GOP presidential hopeful, to build the 854 miles of border fence signed into law last year within six months of his election that won hearts and, quite possibly, votes of the Las Vegas...

Family seeks support for border agent; Ignacio Ramos serving 11-year sentence after wounding smuggler Wednesday, August 1, 2007 By: CHRIS BAGLEY - Staff Writer TEMECULA -- A thousand points of friction surround the issue of illegal immigration, but few have inflamed passions like the cases of Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos and Jose Compean. The two U.S. Border Patrol agents have been in federal prison since January after shooting and wounding a drug smuggler who was fleeing to the Mexican border in February 2005. The agents are serving 11 and 12 years, respectively, for convictions on charges of armed assault, obstruction of...

Duncan Hunter testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on behalf of Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean.

ABINGDON, Va. — The Damascus police chief was arrested Saturday and charged with distributing methamphetamine. Anthony Stephen Richardson, 40, was arrested without incident at the city police department, Virginia State Police Sgt. M.T. Conroy said. The arrest was the result of an undercover investigation in which a confidential informant bought methamphetamine from Richardson on June 12, according to court documents.

Dozens of radio talk-show hosts from across the nation are uniting with an immigration group for a Capitol Hill rally to pressure Congress to defeat an illegal alien amnesty bill, protect the border, and support the Border Patrol, including imprisoned former agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. Texas radio talk-show host Edd Hendee, working with colleagues such as Roger Hedgecock and Howie Carr, wants the agents to be freed and the prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, fired. The "Hold Their Feet to the Fire 2007" rally is planned for April 22-25 by the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington,...

A judge told two decorated former detectives Monday that they will get the maximum - life in prison - for moonlighting as hitmen for the mob. U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein said he would not formally impose the sentence on Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa until at least June 23. At that time, the defendants will argue they were not adequately represented by their lawyers at their trial. ``This is probably the most heinous series of crimes ever tried in this courthouse,'' the judge said.(snip) Prosecutors said the detectives committed some of the murders themselves, and delivered up other...

SCOTTISH police officers have sparked anger after calling for the legalisation of all drugs - including heroin and cocaine. The Strathclyde Police Federation has called for a dramatic change of direction in the battle on drugs crime, and the issue will be debated later this month. The body, which represents 7000 officers, is set to argue that all drugs should be licensed in the same way as cigarettes and alcohol. Officers claim this would cut drug deaths and divert police resources to other crime-fighting priorities. It is the first time that an organisation representing officers has made such a demand....

Investigators suspect that at least six New Jersey state troopers were recorded on wiretaps, calling in bets to a bookmaking ring allegedly run by a National Hockey League coach and another trooper, a source familiar with the probe said Friday. The state police also suspended a trooper for allegedly failing to report the illegal betting ring to his superiors, a law enforcement official said. Michael Kaiser, a sergeant assigned to the Garden State Parkway, was suspended late Thursday for violating the agency's rules. He was not charged with any crimes, officials said. State police investigators are now trying to determine...

For three years, Memphis police made drug arrests, dutifully gave the drugs to property room workers and waited to make their cases in court. They had no idea those workers were wheeling those same drugs right back out the door -- right back onto the street. Now, almost three months after a drug lord who sold more than a half-ton of that cocaine earned a 24-year prison term, the scope of the property room case is clearer. It netted more than 100 people, including one part-time judge and two workers who took more than $100,000 to look the other way....