Category: 
Headlines and quotes from all over (1/17/2007 – 1/18/2006):
U.S. Attorney defends prosecution of Border Patrol agents
Nice job by O’R in trying to bring out the facts about this case. If he really was the full-bore populist demagogue Colbert paints him as, he’d be pounding the table with Tancredo and Rohrabacher about pardoning these guys post haste. Instead, he invited Johnny Sutton on to explain the facts. Well done. And well done as well by my pal Counselor Frey, who appears to have caught Deb Saunders bowdlerizing a quote to make it fit her argument.
The president told reporters today that he’s open to a pardon, but he seems lukewarm to the idea. As well he should be.
Bush said, “There’s a process for pardons. It’s got to work its way through a system here in the government. I just want people to take a sober look at the case.”
Bush said a White House review will take place. “People need to take a tough look at the facts, the evidence a jury looked at, as well as (the) judge. And I will do the same thing,” Bush said.
Here’s what he’ll learn when he does.
Across the dial, while O’R was covering this, a real demagogue was busy doing some bowdlerizing of his own. His victim? Simon Cowell, if you can believe it. h/t … Allahpundit
Duncan Hunter Hunter Introduces Bill To
Pardon Convicted Border Patrol Agents
This just arrived in my email: “Washington D.C. – Today, Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) introduced the Congressional Pardon for Border… h/t John Hawkins
Another Border Agent Will Need A Lawyer
I hope this border agent has already hired a good lawyer; The Mexican government sent a diplomatic note to the United States on Tuesday protesting the fatal shooting of a Mexican immigrant by a U.S. Border Patrol agent. The note, presented by the Mexican Embassy in Washington, relayed “the Mexican government’s firm …h/t Oak Leaf from PoliPundit
Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean shot a fleeing drug runner in the butt. The drug smuggler was… h/t imao
Dope Smuggler Goes Free and
Border Patrol Gets Jail Time ~ HUH?
At the US-Mexican border near San Diego
Illegal aliens near Naco, Arizona border.
Night vision photo by Henry Harvey.CNSNews.com)
As two U.S. Border Patrol agents surrendered to federal marshals Wednesday afternoon to begin serving more than a decade in jail for shooting an illegal drug smuggler, a federal lawmaker and conservative advocacy group expressed outrage at President Bush for not pardoning the men.
“This is the worst betrayal of American defenders I have ever seen,” Rep. Dana Rohrabacher said of the president.
“It’s shameful this was done by someone who is in the Republican Party,” the California Republican added in comments coinciding with the jailing of agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.
Rohrabacher said Bush “obviously thinks more about his agreements with Mexico than the lives of American people and backing up his defenders.”
Ramos and Compean reportedly handed themselves over to the U.S. Marshal’s office in El Paso, Texas, early Wednesday afternoon, facing the prospect of 11- and 12-year prison terms, respectively, for a string of offenses including the use of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence.
On February 17, 2005, Ramos and Compean were patrolling the border town of Fabens, Texas, when a Mexican illegal alien and drug smuggler, attempted to secret nearly 800 pounds of marijuana into the United States in his van. Agent Compean chased Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila by vehicle and on foot, ordering him to stop. Compean says Aldrete-Davila ignored him, pushed him down, and assaulted him, whereupon the agent called for backup, drawing seven additional units, including Ramos. When he arrived on the scene, he heard gunfire, saw Compean bleeding on the ground, and the fugitive – still refusing to stop as commanded – stealing furtive glances over his shoulder while holding something shiny he believed to be a handgun. Both state they felt threatened, and both fired rounds in the alien’s direction, Ramos striking him in the buttocks. The alien got away, but the two men had jeopardized their own well-being to keep his noxious contraband off our streets.Returning to Mexico, Aldrete-Davila related his misfortunes to his mother, who contacted the mother-in-law of Border Patrol agent Rene Sanchez. Sanchez in turn tipped off a member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, who went to Mexico to offer immunity if Osbaldo would act as a state’s witness against Ramos and Compean: the feds wanted to prosecute the agents shooting the alien narcotics supplier.
To sweeten the immunity deal, the feds paid for Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila’s medical treatment of his ailing backside – a taxpayer-funded recuperation at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas. He showed his gratitude by breaking his immunity agreement in October 2005, when officers say he attempted to smuggle 1,000 pounds of marijuana into America. The prosecution further extended its immunity to this felony and sealed the indictment from jurors. Aldrete-Davila repaid this new shower of grace by suing the federal government for $5 million, alleging the shooting violated his civil rights. However, he agreed to help in their criminal prosecution, as well, and the feds are apparently happy to collaborate with the pusher as long as he helped put effective lawmen behind bars.
Wild Thing’s comment…….
These guys would have never been convicted if this Administration didn’t offer the Illegal Alien Drug Smuggler immunity to testify against them.
I will defend the BP agents more than I will a drug smuggler! An ILLEGAL alien drug smuggler at that!
These Border Agents did their job, when an AMERICAN says they defend a bum drug smuggler and NOT the law and those who upkeep the law it is a sad day in America!!
It reminds me of those that tried to convict our Military not to long ago when they were accused. We all supported and stood by our military and I would do it again just as I stand by the BORDER PATROL AGENTS!
Anyone can come over the OPEN border, terrorists with suitcase nuclear weapons and stinking drug smugglers! There is something very wrong with these guys going to prison and the drug dealer going free.
This wasn’t Anytown USA and those BP’s are in an undeclared war zone of which our leaders in Washington DC have turned a blind eye to. It is the Mexican Smugglers against the US BP it is the Mexican Army as well as Mexican Police against our BP. Then besides that they face the often-armed illegal’s with nothing to loose. Night after night day after day while our POTUS kisses up to the Mexican government BACKING the ones shooting at our BP’s for his beloved new trade union. That’s right, OUR Government BREAKING OUR LAWS everyday they kiss ass to Mexico encouraging the illegal’s to enter and give them rewards with our tax dollars for doing such.
What is worse the government thinks that their bad cutting a deal by pardoning a felon with 700 pounds of pot is a far less serious a crime as being shot in the butt? This man has had how many arrests by BP? The USAG’s office is ready to give him sainthood.
How many BP’s have been shot at and killed by Mexicans and what has been Mexico’s response? What have been the Whitehouse’s demands? It’s a war zone down there!
The record shows, for a fact, they acted legally and thought the perp had a gun at the time.
I will no more second guess them under their circumstances than our U.S. service members actions in Iraq.
Unarmed National Guards on the border that the BP as well must protect. Bush has helped create the very conditions that place our BP’s lives in danger to start with. In light of his gross mis-management concerning our borders yes he owes them a pardon and the rest of the BP and the NG’s he sent there unarmed an apology as well.
“Rule of law” to Alberto Gonzales means:
1. 12 years in prison for shooting a drug smuggler in the ass, and lying about it
2. 100 hours community service for Sandy Berger for stealing and destroying top-secret government documents pertaining to acts of war, and lying about it.
Our government is sending the border agents a message: Don’t defend yourselves. Don’t secure the border. Otherwise, you go to jail. You’re there only for appearances.
Now let’s take this a step further ok? We have our awesome troops, locked and loaded to fight. Ready, aim, fire…. a go at the enemy. BUT wait……God forbid they take out a Muslim that reaches for a bomb, a gun, a weapon. God forbid the freaking smelly turbin headed Muslim turns to run and gets shot, in the gluts’, in the back, in the hamstring…whatever! Who gives a shit! I applaud the soldier and we have one less infidel hater on this earth. I call that a damn good day!
We are sending more troops to Iraq. OK good, but IF our leadership intends to repeat the hands tied behind the back rule, then screw it. Yes I am pissed, I am tired of this weak lawbreaking leadership that expects our troops, our soldiers and yes our BP agents to do their job when our leadership ignores our existing laws, takes the side of the damn Muslims and the illegal’s, then this world is upside down and we might as well just order more amo for our homes and keep going to the range. Because the open borders have already proven they are a way for terrorists to enter as well.
I am fierce about loyalty and I will give mine to our troops, to our Veterans and to our BP agents that WANT to defend this Nation. NOT to some two faced loyalty in our leadership that want to stay in some kind of sick comfort zone of aiding the enemy by caving in to their demands, their whines, their illegal activity and their deal making, lies and tax funded health care etc. to obtain the freedoms that our Veterans, and troops today fought for, got injured for and died for. And that includes our BP agents as well. … h/t Wild Thing
Texas Border Patrol Shooting Case:
Compare Debra Saunders’s Columns to Fact Sheet
A few days ago, Bradley J. Fikes wrote me to ask whether I was going to write anything about the Border Patrol agents recently sentenced to double-digit prison sentences for firing on an alleged drug smuggler. He sent me a link to this October 22, 2006 column by Debra Saunders, who is, Bradley says, known for being careful with her facts. Saunders called the case “a case of blind and bloodthirsty federal prosecutorial overkill.” In looking into the case, I found another column by Saunders, from August 24, 2006. The issue has become news again in recent days because of calls for a pardon for the agents.
I told Bradley that I was unlikely to write about it. I hadn’t known anything about it before he told me about it, and I have no special insight into it.
But after I read this fact sheet prepared by the U.S. Attorney of the District where the case was prosecuted (h/t Hot Air), I thought it might be interesting to compare the U.S. Attorney’s claims with Saunders’s claims in her two columns.
The “fact sheet” is a list of alleged “myths,” compared to the reality as the U.S. Attorney describes it. I have no idea what the true facts are; I didn’t see the trial, and as I said, I know little about the case. Still, it makes for interesting reading alongside Saunders’s columns. If the U.S. Attorney’s facts are true, it does much to counter the impression left by Saunders’s columns.
Let’s start with a major one: did the shooting victim pose a threat? Was he armed with a gun? Here’s Saunders from October 22:
In February 2005, Border Patrol agent Jose Alonso Compean got in a scuffle with smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, who was driving a van that carried 743 pounds of marijuana. Compean and fellow agent Ignacio Ramos shot at Aldrete-Davila — they say they thought he had a gun, which Aldrete-Davila denies.
This claim is contradicted pretty powerfully by one salient statement in the U.S. Attorney’s fact sheet, which is not noted in either of Saunders’s columns — namely, that the jury apparently heard from a Border Patrol agent who witnessed the shooting and testified that the victim had no weapon and posed no threat:
Border Patrol Agent Juarez, who was at the scene, testified at trial that he did not draw his pistol because he did not believe there was a threat. He also testified that Aldrete [the shooting victim] did not have a weapon and was almost to Mexico when Agent Compean began firing at him.
If this is true — and this U.S. Attorney is sure opening himself up to some major embarrassment if it’s false — Saunders should have told readers about that. Instead, she implied that the trial was a case of the drug smuggler’s word against the agents’ word:
As everyone knows, drug smugglers would never carry a concealed weapon and prosecutors should take a drug-ring lieutenant’s word over that of Border Patrol agents with clean records — because the smuggler would tell the truth even if he had a $5 million incentive to lie. (Yes, that was sarcasm.)
Saunders never tells readers about the testimony of Border Patrol Agent Juarez.
Further statements from the U.S. Attorney’s fact sheet seem to indicate (if true) that the victim was not a threat to the agents:
Testimony further revealed that Agents Compean and Ramos never took cover not did they ever warn the other agents to take cover. This action demonstrates that they did not perceive a threat. In his statement to investigators, Compean admitted that Aldrete had attempted to surrender with both hands open and in the air. . . . Agent Juarez also testified that Aldrete was surrendering to Compean with his hands open and empty palms turned to Compean.
Saunders doesn’t mention that either.
Saunders does mention another fact that goes against the agents — their curious decision to pick up the casings from the shooting, and pretend like it had never happened: “The agents picked up their shells and failed to report the shooting.” But she treats that as a mere administrative issue, deserving of a reprimand: “For that violation of agency policy, Ramos and Compean deserved an administrative review and some sort of job-related punishment.” She never seems to ask why they did it — and to consider the possibility that their actions show that they knew they had done something wrong, and perhaps criminal.
Saunders never asks that question — but I bet the jury did when it decided to convict.
Saunders from August:
[T]hese are good guys with no other marks against them. Ramos, who was nominated Border Patrol Agent of the year in 2005, told the San Bernardino County Sun, “There’s murderers and child rapists that are looking at less time than me.”
From the fact sheet:
Agent Ramos has never received any formal recognition or award for being the Border Patrol Agent of the year. In fact, he has been arrested on at least two occasions for domestic abuse and was formally disciplined for conduct unbecoming a federal officer.
On the Border Patrol Agent of the year issue, there’s no formal contradiction there; Saunders said he was “nominated.” But “no other marks against them”??
Saunders from October:
Instead, due to a case of blind and bloodthirsty federal prosecutorial overkill, Ramos and Compean were sentenced to 11 years and 12 years respectively. Oh, and the smuggler was granted immunity for the 743 pounds of pot, and is suing the federal government for $5 million.
Assuming that the U.S. Attorney’s fact sheet is accurate, it is, I submit, misleading to state the smuggler was granted immunity for the pot. Saunders leaves the reader with the clear impression that a) there was a prosecutable case against Aldrete for the pot; and b) the U.S. Attorney made a blanket promise to Aldrete that he would not prosecute Aldrete for the pot if he testified. According to the U.S. Attorney, both implications are false. First, he says, he had no case against Aldrete:
Because the agents could not identify him, found no fingerprints, could not tie him to the van and did not apprehend him after shooting him, the case against Aldrete could not be proven.
The only way we know Aldrete was the smuggler, the U.S. Attorney says, is because he later admitted it — only after the U.S. Attorney’s office gave him a limited form of “use” immunity to secure his statements for use against the agents:
When Aldrete then got back to Mexico without having been apprehended and identified, there was no longer any way to tie him to the load of marijuana, except through his own admissions.
Prosecutors promised Aldrete that they would not use his truthful statements and testimony to prosecute him for the events that occurred on Feb. 17, 2005. . . . This type of “use immunity” does not give blanket immunity for any crimes he may have committed or may commit in the future. If there were other admissible evidence besides his own statements sufficient to convict him, he could be prosecuted for the offense he describes.
As a practical matter, the promise to Aldrete gave up very little since the case against him was not prosecutable . . . there was no evidence against him until he agreed to cooperate.
Saunders tries to make it sound as though the Agents were treated more harshly than they would have been if they were “crooks.” From her October column:
If they were crooks, they would serve shorter time. Last month, a Border Patrol agent, who admitted to smuggling 100 illegal immigrants while he served on the Border Patrol, got five years.
The U.S. Attorney says:
Congress determined the penalties imposed on Compean and Ramos by setting the punishment for discharging a firearm during a crime of violence at a mandatory minimum of ten years (on top of any other sentence imposed). Congress did not make an exception for law enforcement officers.
So yes, people get different sentences for different crimes. If they had been crooks, they would have gotten sentenced as crooks. Instead, they got sentenced for a crime that Congress deems more serious: firing a gun during a crime of violence. Is it so surprising that the penalty is greater than it would be for mere crooks?
Saunders quotes the U.S. Attorney as saying that the agents “fired at least 15 rounds at [Aldrete], although they had seen his open hands and knew that he was not holding a weapon and had no reason to think he had a weapon, hitting him once and causing serious bodily injury.” The U.S. Attorney elaborates in his fact sheet:
In America, law enforcement officers do not get to shoot unarmed suspects who are running away, lie about it to their supervisors and file official reports that are false. That is a crime and prosecutors cannot look the other way.
Sounds pretty sensible to me.
If the U.S. Attorney’s fact sheet is accurate in all respects, then I think Saunders has disserved her readers with her one-sided columns, and this is all a tempest in a teapot. If the facts are as the U.S. Attorney reports them, a couple of Border Patrol Agents committed a crime, got caught, and were punished. Simple as that.
h/t to Patterico
Tancredo calls on Bush to pardon convicted Border Patrol agents
He’ll do it, too. He’ll sign the pardons on the very same day that he signs the Comprehensive Amnesty Act of 2007. That’ll be the spoonful of sugar fed to chumps like you and me to make the medicine go down a bit smoother.
The agents turned themselves in today to begin serving their prison sentences. The case has drawn enough heat that the U.S. Attorney who convicted them prepared a fact sheet reciting, and then debunking, the various myths surrounding it. That won’t satisfy everyone, but I found it useful.
O’Reilly also pressed Tanc on his presidential bid. An early frontrunner to be his veep: the little man who lives in his brain and whispers to him about the North American Union…. h/t Allahpundit
Congressman make last minute plea to President Bush to pardon the 2 border agents being sent to prison for pretty much doing their job: SAN DIEGO — Last-minute pleas are being made in the case of two former Border Patrol agents who are due to report to prison. Jose Compean … h/t Michael “A.J. Sparxx” Illions
2 Border Patrol Agents Turn Themselves In for Shooting Mexican Drug Runner
“This ruling by Judge Cardone is the most disgraceful act that I have ever heard of in the history of our great nation and both she and the prosecutors should be ashamed of themselves for taking the word of a drug smuggler, caught in the act, while ignoring the facts,” Friends of the Border Patrol Chairman Andy Ramirez wrote in a statement. “Evidence that would have severely damaged the credibility of the known drug smuggler, and exonerated Compean & Ramos was sealed and suppressed and the attorneys were prevented from mounting a proper defense.”
…”I must remind the public that narcotic traffickers and human smugglers laugh at law enforcement as they know that the Johnny Sutton’s of DOJ will not prosecute them, and instead will prosecute officers who do their job and keep that poison off our streets and out of our schools, parks, and neighborhoods,” Ramirez wrote.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., however, criticized the president for failing to come through with a pardon.
“This is the worst betrayal of American defenders I have ever seen,” Rohrabacher said in an interview with WorldNetDaily. “It’s shameful this was done by someone who is in the Republican Party. He obviously thinks more about his agreements with Mexico than the lives of American people and backing up his defenders.”
Power drunk prosecutors going to any lengths to obtain a conviction in a bogus case? Impossible in America!
And of course President George “Amnesty Now” Bush won’t pardon these men. He has to send a message….
To Mexico that the borders are wide open, and to those who wish to guard the borders for us to make damned sure they stay that way.
h/t Bill Quick
New “9-11 Commission” Bill Does Not Seal Immigration Loopholes
I did a cursory review of H.R. 1, the House bill that purportedly addresses the areas of concern raised by the 9-11 Commission, and I found no reference to any enhanced effort to deal with immigration benefit fraud, or to otherwise even mention any effort to improve security within the immigration system. You can read material relating to this legislation here.
I would urge that you consider the findings of the 9-11 Commission on how the terrorists who attacked our nation gamed the immigration system to enter the United States and to embed themselves within our country. I would also ask you to consider this 2005 report on the immigration fraud perpetrated by scores of foreign-born terrorists who operated in the U.S. False identities are to criminals and terrorists what changes in coloration are to chameleons. False names enable the bad guys to conceal their true identities, criminal histories and intentions. On September 11, 2001 our immigration system became the unwitting accomplice of the terrorists. The failure of the House bill to address the lack of integrity of the immigration system as well as the statements made by many of the politicians from both sides of the aisle and in both houses of Congress has made it clear that for many of our “leaders” the desire for cheap labor and new voters trumps national security and the safety of our citizens.
A sword of Damocles hangs over our nation, wielded by the terrorists, drug traffickers, gang members and assorted criminals who exploit the vulnerabilities of the immigration system to enter the United States. They would then seek to find and exploit additional vulnerabilities in the immigration system and other bureaucracies to be found in the United States to embed themselves in our country and then carry out their goals, to the extreme detriment of our citizens. For members of Congress and the administration to claim to be following the advice of the 9-11 Commission and then carefully pick and chose those recommendations that they like and thereby simply providing an illusion of attempting to protect our citizens and our nation is simply not acceptable.
The truth is that the House bill does not address the need to restore meaningful integrity to the immigration system and also secure our nation’s borders. The Visa Waiver Program continues on and the President has recently called for the expansion of this program that imperils our nation’s security. The proposed legislation does not address this loophole that makes it far easier for criminals and terrorists to enter the United States. While American citizens are required to remove their shoes before boarding airliners because Richard Reid, the notorious “Shoe Bomber” secreted explosives in his shoes. Meanwhile, what is ignored is that as a British citizen, Reid was able to board that airliner he intended to destroy in midair with his bombs, without first applying for and receiving a visa, because of the Visa Waiver Program. We are highly restricted in being able to bring any fluids on board airliners because a number of terrorists had planned to bring quantities of liquids on board airliners that are harmless by themselves, but become explosives when mixed together with other fluids. This ingenious scheme involving binary explosives was put together by more citizens of Great Britain. They too, could have boarded airliners without first obtaining visas.
h/t counterterrorismblog.org
Tyrell Publishes Pro-Amnesty Hit Piece Against Tancredo
“There are others out there who are prepared to be tough on immigration policy,” says a consultant for Republican House member from a western state. “Republicans and social conservatives need to be asking Tancredo some tough questions. I don’t believe he’s a pro-life candidate, not by a long shot, and the people he’s associated with, who back him, are not part of the mainstream. To disavow these people now is just too late.”
Anonymous attacks don’t cut it. Who’s doing the hit job on Tancredo? We can guess why, but what I want to know is, who?
My bet is that it is somebody who is pro amnesty and pro illegal immigration who doesn’t like the idea of a Tancredo candidacy at all. And, of course, you need to take into account that R. Emmet Tyrell, who owns and operates TAP, where this anonymous hit piece appeared, is pro-amnesty and pro-Bush policy himself, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him enlisting in the stop-Tancredo cause. (Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds). h/t Bill Quick
An excerpt from an e mail blast from writer John Lillpop: At 2 p.m. Central Time today, Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos, former U.S. Border Patrol agents, must surrender to federal marshals and begin serving prison sentences of twelve and eleven years, respectively. Compean and Ramos are headed to prison for … h/t Oak Leaf
Officials Concerned About Passport Rules
Canadian officials, border states concerned new passport rules will hurt commerce and tourism … from CBSNews
Democrats Slow to Approve Funding for Border Fence
Until Democrats release money to build a U.S.-Mexican border fence, it won’t happen. … from foxnews.com
Now here’s a fair and thorough look at the aftermath of a federal immigration raid at a chicken-processing plant in Georgia that sent hundreds illegal workers packing. The plant, Crider, was forced to hire Georgians–many of them black, and many… h/t See-Dubya
Tancredo Forms Committee For Presidential Nomination
The Coloradoan reported his intent:
Colorado Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo, an outspoken opponent of illegal immigration, said today he will form an exploratory committee this week for a possible presidential campaign.
After making a weekend trip to Iowa, home to the first nominating caucus in January 2008, Tancredo said voters there told him other presidential candidates don’t share their views.
“They believe that there is a void in this race that none of the other candidates are willing or able to fill,” he said.
And the Tancredo Committee website is now up.
That oughta squeeze those goddamn RINOs. If the Pence Plan comes up for a vote now his possible opponents who are members of congress will have to weigh their votes very carefully. When they were all — to a man — singing off of George Bush’s songsheet they were covered, because none of them was any worse than the other. That’s not true anymore.
Tancredo can beat Hillary because many Democrat voters, including many Blacks, agree with him on the boundless horror of open borders/amnesty. The conservatives who stayed home in 2006 will look no further.
Hat tips: regular DP reader Barry for the heads-up, and the Tancredo For President blog for the links. … h/t to Lastango
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Politics
See also, several other stories posted at News From the Border!
Tancredo calls upon Dubya to pardon wrongfully con
Sen. Tom Tancredo of Colorado appeared on FOX recently, and called for Dubya to pardon some Border Patrol agents who were wrongfully convicted of shooting a drug smuggler.