Two Border Patrol Agents- Sentenced 11&12 years in prison..

**thegodfather** · 02-17-2008, 02:22 AM

Well...this is a story I feel very strongly about. I would also like to make an attempt to offset all the negative posts I have towards law enforcers in general (hey Logan! lol). There hasn't been any recent news on this case, but I would not like us to forget these guys, they are Heroes in my book. Two border patrol agents were sentenced to 11 & 12 years in Federal Prison for shooting a fleeing illegal immigrant attempting to smuggle 700 pounds of marijuana into the United States. He was shot in the rear end 1 time. The prosecutors office tracked this illegal down IN MEXICO weeks later and offered him medical treatment, and immunity for all of his previous drug smuggling charges in return for his testimony against the two border patrol agents. Just reposting an older news article so we dont forget about these two outstanding officers, waking up everyday in prison for trying to protect our country from illegal immigrant invaders, and 700 pounds of illegal drugs.

by Phyllis Schlafly January 3, 2007

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President George W. Bush pardoned 16 criminals including five drug dealers at Christmastime, but so far has refused to pardon the two U.S. Border Patrol agents who were trying to defend Americans against drug smugglers. It makes us wonder which side the self-proclaimed "compassionate" President is on.
Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were guarding the Mexican border near El Paso on February 17, 2005 when they intercepted a van carrying 743 pounds of marijuana. For what happened next, they were convicted and sentenced under a statute that was designed to impose heavy punishment on criminal drug smugglers caught in the commission of a crime.

The two agents are scheduled to start 11- and 12-year prison terms, respectively, on January 17, for the crime of putting one bullet in the buttocks of the admitted drug smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, and failing to report the discharge of their firearms. The non-fatal bullet didn't stop the smuggler from running to escape in a van waiting for him on the Mexican side of the border.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher called the two agents heroes. "Because of their actions, more than a million dollars in illegal drugs were stopped from being sold to our children. Bringing felony charges against them is a travesty of justice beyond description."

The White House and the U.S. Department of Justice are stonewalling requests for a presidential pardon from 55 Members of Congress and U.S. citizens who have sent at least 160,000 petitions and 15,000 faxes. When the Bush Administration deigns to respond at all, the official line is that the Border Patrol agents got a fair trial.

But that's not true; they didn't get a fair trial. They were convicted because the Justice Department sent investigators into Mexico, tracked down the drug smuggler, and gave him immunity from all prosecution for his drug smuggling crimes if he would please come back and testify against Ramos and Compean.

It was massively unfair to give immunity to an illegal alien narcotics trafficker while destroying the lives and families of two Border Patrol agents who risked their lives to stop him. Ramos and Compean were convicted mainly on the testimony of the immunity-sheltered drug smuggler, whose integrity should have been called into question, but Ramos and Compean were forbidden to do that during the trial.

The prosecutor even tried to get Ramos and Compean convicted of attempted murder! The jury acquitted them of that outlandish charge, but the government still asked for a sentence of 20 years for the other counts on which they were convicted.

How did the prosecution go from an administrative violation for failing to report a firearm discharge, with the penalty of perhaps a 5-day suspension, to prosecution for intent to commit murder?

After the trial, two jurors gave sworn statements that they had been pressured to render a guilty verdict and did not understand that a hung jury was possible.

A major argument used by the prosecution during the trial was that our government has a policy forbidding agents from chasing suspected drug smugglers without first getting permission from supervisors. That sounds like a no-arrest policy; by the time an agent gets permission, a smuggler can be out of sight and safely back over the border.

There were a couple of factual discrepancies between the smuggler's story and the agents' testimony, but the government chose to believe the immunity-motivated repeat drug smuggler rather than Border Patrol agents with clean records. Ramos was nominated for Border Patrol Agent of the year in 2005, and Compean served honorably in the U.S. Navy before joining the Border Patrol.

The Bush Administration tidied up Aldrete's wound at a U.S. hospital at our expense and opened the way for him to sue the U.S. government for $5 million for violating his civil rights, which he is now doing.

This case exposes the misplaced priorities of the Bush Administration. The case also reminds us that our Border Patrol agents are in daily danger from hardened criminals.

The Department of Homeland Security issued this Officer Safety Alert on December 21, 2005: "Unidentified Mexican alien smugglers . . . have agreed that the best way to deal with U.S. Border Patrol agents is to hire a group of contract killers." The alert cautions that, to perform the killings, the smugglers intend to use the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) street gang, known for its unspeakable atrocities and torture.

T.J. Bonner, national Border Patrol Council, said: "There is a palpable sense of outrage and betrayal. Here, you have five convicted drug dealers being pardoned, and two border patrol agents, who were doing their job, fighting the war on drugs on the front lines, and they're going to prison."

This case is a test of George Bush's character, compassion, and concern for drugs coming across our border. He can't duck responsibility: the prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, and the judge, Kathleen Cardone, are both Bush appointees.

**thegodfather** · 02-17-2008, 02:23 AM

Imprisoned border agent
beaten by fellow inmates

Justice Department confirms report of assault,
Ramos: 'They kicked me ? all over the body'

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Posted: February 06, 2007
3:03 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily.com

The Department of Justice has confirmed imprisoned former Border Patrol agent Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos ? sentenced to 11 years in the shooting of a drug smuggler ? was treated for injuries after reporting he was beaten in a medium-security facility in Mississippi.

Monica Ramos embraces her husband, former U.S. Border Patrol agent Ignacio Ramos, two days before he was sentenced to 11 years in prison (Courtesy El Paso Times)

WND received a statement issued by the agency citing Charles Smith, spokesman for the Federal Correctional Complex in Yazoo City, Miss.

Smith said that at about 10:15 p.m. Saturday, Ramos "reported to staff that he had been assaulted."

"Mr. Ramos was evaluated by medical staff at the institution who determined he had sustained some bruises and abrasions. The injuries sustained were minor in nature."

However, Ramos's wife and father-in-law told WND the former agent said in phone calls to them the assailants "got me pretty good," explaining he was assaulted by five Hispanic men with steel-toed boots ? likely illegal aliens ? who cussed him out in Spanish.

"They kicked me in the head, they kicked me all over the body. I'm all bruised and very sore," Ramos reportedly said, adding he bled from his left ear.

(Story continues below)

Ramos, Smith said, then "was placed in the Special Housing Unit pending a thorough investigation of the incident. He will remain in the Special Housing Unit until the conclusion of this investigation. No further information is available at this time."

Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, told WND he received verbal confirmation from the Bureau of Prisons that Ramos was assaulted and sent to the infirmary.

Poe was among a number of lawmakers and others close to the case who expressed concerned for the safety of Ramos and fellow agent Jose Compean if they were placed among the general prison population.

Unfortunately, this is not a surprise," Poe told WND. "The federal government doesn't do any better job of protecting border agents in jail than it does protecting them on the border."

Poe said the bureau is drafting a report on the incident, and he has requested a copy.

In a phone call from prison, Ramos told his wife yesterday the assailants allegedly threatened him in Spanish, taunting him with, "**** la migra." "Migra" roughly translates as "immigration," slang for Border Patrol agent.

Ramos had been moved to the medium-security facility about 10 days ago. He and Compean began prison sentences last month, of 11 and 12 years respectively, for their actions in the shooting and wounding of a Mexican drug smuggler who was granted full immunity to testify against them. The case has caused national outrage, and dozens of congressmen are publicly insisting President Bush grant an immediate pardon of the two law enforcement officers.

Ramos's family believes the decision to place him in a medium-security prison violates a promise from federal authorities that he would be kept in isolation at a minimal-security prison.

At Yazoo, Ramos was housed with the general prison population. A medium-security prison such as Yazoo would be expected to house illegal immigrants, including those incarcerated on drug offenses.

The prison attack came immediately after the airing Saturday night of a segment on Ramos and Compean by the "America's Most Wanted" television show.

"On Saturday night my husband said he went to bed," Monica Ramos told WND late today.

She recounted the telephone call from her husband in prison earlier in the day: "He just told me that he dropped his guard. 'They got me,' Nacio told me, 'they got me pretty good.'"

"'What happened?'" Monica Ramos said she asked her husband. "He told me they were in the television room watching 'America's Most Wanted.' After that, some time after 10 p.m., he went back to his cubicle and was almost falling asleep. He awoke to the sound of shoes stomping. It startled him because at night the prisoners are supposed to take their shoes off and put flip-flops on."

She continued: "He said he didn't have a chance to turn around and look at any of the guys attacking him at that time. He just felt a blow to the back of his head. The prisoners were kicking him with steel-toe shoes, the work boots they are issued in prison. They kept kicking and kicking. And they kept calling him in Spanish a **** immigration officer, saying 'darle, darle,' which means, 'give it to him.' They were cussing him out in Spanish. He couldn't fight back, he was outnumbered."

According to Loya, Ramos also said of the attack: "They kicked me in the head, they kicked me all over the body. I'm all bruised and very sore."

How did the attack stop?

"No security came to his rescue," the jailed Border Patrol agent's wife told WND. "Another inmate came and got him and said 'Hey, dude, let me help you up.' The other inmate walked my husband over to security."

Did the prison give him any medical treatment?

"As of the time we talked this afternoon, the prison still hadn't given him any medical treatment," she said, adding that he told her, "'I asked all day yesterday.' I'm in a lot of pain and I have blood coming out of my left ear.'

"His head and his back are hurting him badly. He said it was almost time for the prison doctor to go for the day and he wasn't sure when any doctor would be able to see him."

Ramos told his wife he was able to identify only one of the five assailants.

"They all cursed me in Spanish," he said, according to Loya. "As they were beating me up and kicking me, they kept calling me 'migra,' 'migra.' I'm pretty sure they were all illegal immigrants."

Ramos told his wife that he was badly bruised and bleeding from the ears. He said that immediately after the attack, he was placed back into solitary confinement, where he has been for the last two days.

"He told me that he asked to call me Sunday, after the attack," Monica Ramos continued, "but the prison wouldn't let him call me and they wouldn't let him call his attorney. He said the only reason the prison was letting him call now, on Monday, was because the Congress intervened, otherwise he wouldn't have been permitted any calls at all."

Patti Compean, wife of imprisoned agent Jose Compean, told WND her husband was in a different prison, still in solitary confinement.

Today is Ramos' 38th birthday. According to Loya, Ramos's three sons, aged 7, 9 and 13, woke up crying, not wanting to go to school. The children wanted to buy a cake and wait for their father to call so they could sing "Happy Birthday" to him on the phone and blow out the candles.

Early this morning, Loya began working with the office of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R.-Calif., to see if the warden would give Ramos special permission to call home on his birthday, after his children got home from school.

However, the birthday call didn't happen, Monica Ramos told WND.

"We went out and bought a cake," she said. "The kids came home expecting their dad to call from prison so they could wish him a happy birthday. But there isn't going to be any call. My 7-year-old, when he woke up this morning, the first thing he asked was if we could still celebrate today. I told him, 'Sure we can, baby,' and he's been looking forward to it all day."

However, Monica added, in tears: "He told me, 'They're not going to let me call later today.' He said the call in the afternoon only happened because Congress allowed it to happen. He said he doesn't have any privileges in prison. He hasn't even gotten the mail that everybody has been sending him. He told me, 'You really need to get me out of here.' That's what he told me last."

**soulstealer** · 02-17-2008, 10:22 AM

****ING DISGUSTING!!!!

**shifty_git** · 02-17-2008, 11:23 AM

Thats fuked up!

**stocky121** · 02-17-2008, 11:26 AM

****ing hell makes you think why thay should bother

**rocket22** · 02-17-2008, 12:03 PM

Thats just ****ed up, i agree with stocky it makes them think they shouldn't care to do their job anymore

**soulstealer** · 02-17-2008, 12:20 PM

All over the boarder radio conversations will go like this "Sarge their are immigrants smuggling drugs over the boarder" Sarge "I authorize you to use whatever force necessary " Officer "Hey immigrants, stop or we'll be forced to use more forceful language"

**Fat Guy** · 02-17-2008, 01:06 PM

Didn’t you know the job of the Boarder Patrol is not to stop illegals or even illicit drug smugglers but to stop old people from getting there medications from Mexico at a discount (sarcasm

).

I remember this story when it broke and there was a major outcry by the people of So. Cal. But that was completely ignored by any political leader or administration.

At the heart of this story is the illegal immigration issue taking place at the boarder. The real issue here is how the U.S. government is doing absolutely nothing to stop it but that is by design. That’s why there is 100,000 illegal aliens flooding the boarder a week with no end in site. The Bush Administration has no intention of stopping the flood gates. It does not fit their political agenda. However, you will hear ridiculous sound bites from their spin doctors to appease the masses (fences at the boarder, more Boarder Patrol, etc) but with no real solutions, but that is another story.

However, the two poor border patrol officers (Ramos & Compean) who were really trying to do there job got caught up in the political machine and are now escape goats and examples of what not to do as a boarder patrol officer (stopping illegals from coming into the country).

The whole thing is a shame and Ramos & Compean are the fallout guys. Godfather you are right these guys should not be forgotten.

There are many people out there supporting these guys and here is some info on supporting these American Heroes…

“A relief fund has been set up by the National Border Patrol Council. Please support these two fine young men and their families while undergoing hardships most of us will never understand. Any questions regarding the fund can be emailed to Ramos and Compean Relief Fund at [email protected]"

Checks should be made out to:
Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean Relief Fund and mailed to:
P.O. Box 47208
Tampa, Florida 33647