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Friday Night Dinner Meeting October 2, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. Featuring: Former Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos with his father-in-law Joe Loya & San Diego Radio Talk Show Host Rick Amato (KCBQ 1170 AM) Location: Temeku Hills Clubhouse (www.temekuhills.com) 41687 Temeku Drive, Temecula, CA 92591 RSVP at the link provided.

Former U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton has been hired to work in a consulting and law firm formed by former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. Sutton, who resigned Sunday as chief of the San Antonio-based Western District of Texas, is one of four outgoing U.S. attorneys hired by Ashcroft. All served under the administration of former President George W. Bush. “Johnny is joining the Ashcroft law firm, as is John Ratcliffe, former U.S. attorney from Dallas,” said Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Ashcroft’s company. “They will be operating in Texas as Ashcroft Sutton Ratcliffe LLC.” Corallo said Sutton will remain in...

Outgoing U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton said Monday he still believes he made the right call in prosecuting two then-Border Patrol agents convicted of covering up their shooting of an unarmed drug smuggler in the back. In a wide-ranging interview since announcing last week that he is resigning April 19, Sutton also said he was voluntarily leaving the job he’s had for more than seven years — the top federal prosecutor of the San Antonio-based Western District of Texas. Sutton, who was nominated to the post by President George W. Bush, said he is leaving for a legal job in the...

The US Supreme Court will not hear the appeals of US Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. The refusal lets stand the opinion of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirming the convictions and the sentences of the agents. Although this effectively ends the agents’ hopes to have their felony convictions overturned, they are now free men thanks to a last minute commutation of their 10-year sentences by President Bush. Had it not been for Bush’s action, the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case would likely have meant the agents would have served their full sentences. Nonetheless,...

Former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who were given long jail terms for shooting at a fleeing drug smuggler, today told Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck that they were sustained by prayers of the American people and their spirits were lifted by their letters. The two were interviewed on Beck's program in their first television interview allowed under the terms of their probation after President Bush commuted their sentences on his last day in office. They just were released from ankle bracelet restrictions and still face limits on with whom they can talk. One of...

Former U.S. Border Patrol agent Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos wakes up in the middle of the night expecting a guard to shine a flashlight in his face. Jose Alonso Compean, his colleague, still has nightmares that he's not really home. It has not been easy readjusting to life outside their one-man prison cells where they spent the last two years of their lives in segregation. Since the commutation of their sentences by President Bush on his last day in office, the former agents, who were charged with the non-fatal shooting of a Mexican national after he abandoned a load of marijuana...

Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were released last month from federal prison after serving more than two years in solitary confinement for the non-fatal shooting of a Mexican drug smuggler. President Bush commuted the sentences of the two border guards Jan. 19 and his order went into effect yesterday. They had spent the last month in home confinement and are now finally free. Glenn Beck has covered this story for years and was at the forefront of the movement to get President Bush to commute their sentences. These two men are truly American heroes. Welcome back!

Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos were scheduled for Beck's show today. I missed it at 5 p.m. EST but it is now repeating at 2 a.m. EST. Which means it should be on any minute.

Listening to Ignacio Ramos A free man!

WASHINGTON – A judge has ordered the federal government to turn over documents related to the shooting of a fleeing drug smuggler or explain why it's withholding them. The shooting led to the imprisonment and presidential commutation of two U.S. Border Patrol agents. Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, filed Freedom of Information Act requests two years ago with the departments of State, Justice and Homeland Security for records relating to the drug smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete Davila. The departments did not provide any records, so the group filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington. In response to the...

DALLAS – Attorneys say two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a drug smuggler and covering it up have been released from prison. Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean each had their sentences of more than 10 years commuted earlier this year by former President George W. Bush. Their commutation becomes effective March 20, and both will serve out the remainder of their sentences in home confinement. The men were convicted in 2006 of shooting Osvaldo Aldrete Davila near El Paso and trying to conceal it. Ramos left a federal prison in Phoenix on Tuesday morning on furlough, according to...

Convicted former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were released from federal prison this morning and are en route to join their families in El Paso, Texas. Characterizing Ramos and Compean's incarceration as a "political prosecution," Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, called for a congressional investigation into alleged prosecutorial misconduct by El Paso U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton under the direction of Bush administration Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Poe also called for an investigation into the alleged role of the Mexican government in demanding that Ramos and Compean be prosecuted. "As soon as President Bush commuted Ramos and Compean's sentences,...

At 3 a.m. mountain time, former Border Patrol agent Jose Compean was released from the Elkton Federal Prison in Elkton, Ohio. Former agent Ignacio Ramos was released about five hours later from the Phoenix Federal Prison in Phoenix, Ariz. Ramos and Compean will officially be released from Federal Bureau of Prison custody on March 20th, but on Tuesday both were allowed to rejoin their families. They had been in prison since January 2007. Ramos and Compean were in prison for shooting drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete Davila and then trying to cover it up. On President Bush’s last day in office,...

Just heard that Ramos has been released from prison. There will be no media access until March 20, 2009.

Border Patrol agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos could be eligible to leave federal prison within days – though their official release date is still set for March 20, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons has confirmed. BOP spokeswoman Traci Billingsley told WND that inmates may serve their sentences in arranged living facilities or home confinement before they are given their full freedom. "On their release date, all Bureau of Prisons inmates are generally released from one of three places," she said. "They're either released from an institution, a residential reentry center (halfway house) or they're released from...

Ruben Navarrette Jr.: Border agents' release will not wipe away their crime By Ruben Navarrette Jr. Posted: 01/25/2009 12:00:00 AM PST I was glad to see that George W. Bush commuted the prison sentences of former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean. And frankly, I was a bit surprised I was glad. I never had much sympathy for Ramos or Compean, disgraced law enforcement officers who were convicted of shooting a Mexican drug smuggler and then lying about it. From studying the facts, hearing the arguments of the agents' supporters, and interviewing U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, whose...

Mexico slams Border Patrol clemency. Criticizes commutation for former Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean. Plus, President Bush and Administration Corruption Exposed Part II 01.22.09 CNN Lou Dobbs Video: "Mexico Meddling" (Ramos-Compean, Bush Corruption Exposed Pt II) 01.14.09 CNN Lou Dobbs Video: President-Elect Barack Obama and Mexico's President Felipe Calderon met SEGMENT INTRO: New questions about Mexico's brazen meddling in the case against former border patrol agents Ramos and Compean who remain in prison tonight, we'll have special coverage of this continuing miscarriage of justice and the intervention of the Mexican government in the Bush administration's policy making. # And...

“Lou Dobbs Tonight: Transcript” Justice Delayed: (Because of Bush) Ramos & Compean could be in prison for 2 more months Outrageous President Bush, Administration, and Mexican government collusion and corruption against our border patrol agents January 21, 2009 # This was Lou Dobbs first broadcast this week. SEGMENT INTRO: Former Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean, their sentences commuted, but they may be in prison for another two months. There is rising anger at the continued imprisonment of former Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean two days after President Bush commuted their sentences. And there is outrage at the Mexican...

Two Texas border guards sentenced each to about a dozen years in prison have had their sentences commuted by former President George W. Bush in one of last official acts. But the campaign on their behalf is not yet over. In 2005 Border Patrol agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos shot drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete Davila in the buttocks as he fled across the Rio Grande, away from an abandoned van load of marijuana, according to Associated Press reports. The two men, who did not report the shooting and tampered with evidence by picking up spent shell casings, were convicted...

On his last full day as president, George W. Bush commuted the prison sentences of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, two former Border Patrol agents who were sent to prison for crimes they committed related to the shooting of a Mexican drug smuggler. Upon being charged, these agents became convenient symbols, and far too many good people tried to justify their behavior through the prism of their own beliefs. Border Patrol officers saw them as fellow officers unfairly accused of tryin But Compean and Ramos are anything but heroes. They are not good cops unfairly accused...

On his way out of office, President Bush used his power of the pardon to commute the sentences of former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who had been sentenced to 11 years and 12 years respectively for shooting and wounding a fleeing drug smuggler in 2005 and then covering up the incident. It was the right move. Ramos and Compean supporters no doubt would have preferred it if Bush had pardoned the agents - which would have cleared their criminal records. In that Bush had stood by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton's prosecution of the agents, as...

WASHINGTON – In his final acts of clemency, President George W. Bush on Monday granted early prison releases to two former U.S. Border Patrol agents whose convictions for shooting a Mexican drug dealer fueled the national debate over illegal immigration. ">snip<"

On his last full day in office, President Bush commuted the controversial sentences of two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a Mexican drug runner in 2005.

Dear XXXX: After making them suffer two long and painful years in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison, President Bush, on his very last day of office, having received more than five million emails, letters, postcards and telephone calls from citizens all across the country, finally commuted the sentences of Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos and Jose Compean, two brave and decorated Border Patrol agents, improperly charged with the non-crime of using a firearm as they stopped a drug dealer from bringing in more than 700 pounds of narrcotics into the U.S. Please accept my thanks for your great effort in...

Glenn kicks offhis new show tonight with the first interview by Monica Ramos and Patty Compean (wives of jailed border agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean) since the jailed border patrol agents had their sentences commuted today by President Bush. Plus a revealing interview with Sarah Palin---don't miss the highly anticipated premiere tonight at 5p on FOX News Channel! Bold. Brash. Beck!

WASHINGTON – In his final acts of clemency, President George W. Bush on Monday commuted the prison sentences of two former U.S. Border Patrol agents whose convictions for shooting a Mexican drug dealer ignited fierce debate about illegal immigration. Bush's decision to commute the sentences of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who tried to cover up the shooting, was welcomed by both Republican and Democratic members of Congress. They had long argued that the agents were merely doing their jobs, defending the American border against criminals. They also maintained that the more than 10-year prison sentences the pair was given...

The action by the president, who believes the border agents received fair trials and that the verdicts were just, does not diminish the seriousness of their crimes, the official said.

President Bush commuted the prison sentences of former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. ... The agents were convicted of shooting at a fleeing drug smuggler and under an enhanced sentence guideline were ordered to spend more than a decade in prison.. WND reported just days ago that the action was under consideration. That was when the Department of Justice had opened a file on their case, office of agency pardon attorney Ronald Rodgers said. Rodgers spoke directly about the case by telephone with Stephen Eichler, J.D., executive director of Jim Gilchrist's Minuteman Project Inc.. Eichler initially called...

HOORAY!

Just heard on Fox. President Bush has commuted their sentences.

Breaking on Fox news

Just saw a report on Fox News that President Bush commuted border agents Ramos and Compean's prison sentences. WOOHOO!!! More to come...

The family of imprisoned Border Patrol agent Ignacio Ramos was the victim of an attempted hit on their lives this month, as the agent's wife says someone broke into their home and filled it with gas, trashing photographs and pummeling their dog.

Mr. Bush, please listen to your federal prosecutor who doggedly tracked down a convicted drug smuggler in Mexico to convict Border Agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos for allegedly over-zealously shooting at the smuggler after a car chase and then a foot sprint back across the border. To many supporters of the Border Patrol, Prosecutor Sutton himself was guilty of overzealousness in pursuing a criminal conviction of these agents. But this is what Sutton says about the two agents rotting in prison after two years separation from wives, children, parents and life (with nearly a decade still to serve): I...

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, made a final plea this week to President George Bush to commute the sentences of jailed U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. “Because of the excesses of the prosecution against them, they will continue to sit alone in those cells for another decade,” Cornyn wrote, according to a report in the WorldNetDaily. “That is unless President Bush commutes their unjust sentences. In his remaining days as president, I ask President Bush to show mercy and use his clemency power to give back Agents Ramos and Compean the next 10 years of their lives.”

The U.S. Department of Justice has been opened a file on imprisoned U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean and a commutation of their sentences is under review, the office of agency pardon attorney Ronald L. Rodgers confirmed to WND. Rodgers spoke directly about the case by telephone with Stephen J. Eichler, J.D., executive director of Jim Gilchrist's Minuteman Project Inc.. Sign WND's petition urging President Bush to free U.S. Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. Eichler initially called the DOJ pardon attorney's office to discuss the prospect of a presidential pardon for Ramos and Compean....

Monica Ramos and Patty Compean still have hope. It is the slim hope that President Bush will, in his administration's final hours, commute the sentences of their husbands. Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, two former Border Patrol agents, were sentenced to 11 and 12 years in prison, respectively, in October 2006 in the nonfatal shooting of a now-convicted Mexican drug smuggler. They have been in federal prison since January 2007. The convictions of the two men led to an outcry across the nation, and nearly a half-million signatures were collected for a presidential pardon. The notoriety of the...

President Bush has extensively discussed his immigration reform policy in exit interviews and given a $60,000 bonus to a Border Patrol chief who has been criticized for not supporting Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean – but he refuses to talk about whether pardons could be in store for the imprisoned agents. In a Jan. 6 interview with John Gizzi, political editor of Human Events, Bush said he regrets that the comprehensive immigration bill he endorsed did not prevail. "Well, I'm sorry it didn't pass, because I felt strongly that the comprehensive approach to immigration reform was necessary for border enforcement,...

What many people may not realize is that all too often, leaders of agencies are actually non-elected politicians. Someone once said that if you put more than two people together, you wind up with a political system. In order to ascend the chain of command in any organization, often the person who winds up at the top of the pyramid is the person who has demonstrated the willingness to "go along to get along." Apparently the chief of the Border Patrol is such an individual. Virtually from his very first day in office, President George W. Bush made it clear...

When an old high school buddy offered Francisco Zavala money to be the driver on what he knew was a drug run, Zavala agreed. "It sounded like easy money to me," Zavala, 23, testified Wednesday in Pima County Superior Court. But it turned out not to be such a good deal. Fifteen minutes after Vincent Valenzuela, Andre Mays and Netzahualcoyotl Ramos went into a house on West Calle Colado, Zavala, who was waiting in the car, heard gunshots ring out, Zavala testified. All three men came running out, looking "very scared," Zavala said. Zavala was the first witness to testify...

Many of us have been contacting President Bush, over and over again, to pardon or commute the sentences of Ramos and Compean. Davila, the drug dealer got less time than our border patrol agents. The families of these men are suffering, as well as the men. So let's contact VP Cheney and ask him to use his influence and hopefully convince Bush to let these men go free! Here's his email: Vice President Richard Cheney: vice_president@whitehouse.gov If you're a good talker, call talk shows and get radio listeners to contact President Bush, and VP Cheney.

The U.S. Border Patrol has reportedly apprehended nearly 6,000 illegal immigrants in Green Valley since October of 2007, down from nearly 8,000 in the previous fiscal year. “Green Valley is much better than it was a year ago,” said Mario Escalante, a Border Patrol spokesman who explained that the numbers reflect increased enforcement in the area. Still, many in the community think that number is alarmingly high, especially because it does not include surrounding cities such as Sahuarita, Amado or Tubac — only Green Valley. One of them is Kelly Walter, a Green Valley resident and staff member of the...

U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Lehigh Valley, today is sending a letter to President Bush, urging the outgoing president to pardon two former Border Patrol agents who are in prison for shooting a drug smuggler. Dent wrote that the two agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, "were acting in fulfillment of their duty and responsibility to protect our borders and enforce the law, and they have been unjustly punished for their actions." Though Dent's congressional district is hundreds of miles away from the Mexican border, the congressman has taken an interest in border-related issues because he sits on the House...

Tuesday, President George W. Bush granted pardons to 19 people and commuted the sentence of one person, according to the Justice Department -- but the names of two jailed Border Patrol agents were conspicuously absent. Thus ended any hopes of a Christmas commutation of sentence for Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean in the shooting case of Mexican drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila. The president left the White House today for the Christmas holiday at the presidential retreat at Camp David. According to a Bloomberg report, however, President Bush could issue more presidential acts of clemency. The White House “didn’t rule out...

President George W. Bush today added a convicted methamphetamine dealer, a cocaine distributor and two marijuana suppliers to the list of drug operators he's pardoned while in office, bringing his total of drug suppliers who have been pardoned or had their sentences commuted to 36. He's also pardoned more than a dozen thieves, seven embezzlers, an arsonist, several mail thieves, a man who violated the Neutrality Act and eight Thanksgiving turkeys, but there's been no clemency for U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who were convicted of shooting at a fleeing drug smuggler. Andy Ramirez, of Friends...

The only hope left for U.S. Border Agents Nacho Ramos and Ignacio Compean is a Presidential pardon. Without it, they are destined to serve out their decade long sentences for attempting to prevent a drug smuggler from illegally crossing our border… Ramos and Compean are Depending on You! Grassfire is urging ALL members of our team to take immediate action—faxing President Bush, the Office of the Pardon Attorney, your two Senators, and Representative, demanding Ramos and Compean are pardoned and returned to their families. Because we want to keep a sustained effort right through George Bush’s final day in office,...

For over two and a half years, the unjust prosecution and imprisonment of U.S. Border Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean has weighed heavy on the hearts and minds of millions of Americans.