Bush is one of the primary reasons that the Mexican border is open...of course he won't support Border Patrol agents, or the Border Patrol. B http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=33254 Failing to Pardon Border Agents Called 'Worst Black Mark' on Bush Wednesday, July 30, 2008 By Kaitlynn Riely, Correspondent (CNSNews.com) - Three Republican congressmen on Tuesday urged President Bush to grant pardons to two former Border Patrol agents, both of whom face more than 10 years in prison for shooting an illegal immigrant as he fled towards the U.S.-Mexico border. One of the congressman said if Bush failed to pardon the agents it would represent "the worst black mark" on his presidency. "We are calling on President Bush to take this opportunity to show this Christian charity that he always talks about," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) during a news conference in his Washington, D.C., office. Rohrabacher joined Reps. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) in decrying a federal appeals court decision Monday that uphold the prison terms for former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. Ramos faces an 11-year sentence, and Compean faces a 12-year sentence. In the interests of justice and national security, Royce said, the president should pardon the agents. "In the end, this will be the worst black mark on this presidency [if Bush does not pardon the Border Patrol agents]," Rohrabacher said. "It shows the very meanness of spirit, and a disregard for the sacrifice of those people who are defending our country at the border." Ramos and Compean encountered Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila on Feb. 17, 2005, on U.S. territory, as he was attempting to smuggle 743 pounds of marijuana from Mexico into the United States. Aldrete-Davila fled toward Mexico, prompting Compean to fire his gun 14 times. None of Compean's shots hit Aldrete-Davila, but Ramos fired once and hit Aldrete-Davila in the buttocks. Both agents said they saw Aldrete-Davila, who got away into Mexico, holding a gun. Aldrete-Davila was granted immunity and testified against the agents in a federal criminal trial. He admitted that he was attempting to smuggle marijuana into the United States when he was shot. In April 2008, he pleaded guilty to federal charges that he smuggled drugs into the United States in another incident several months after he was shot.
The appeals court vacated Ramos' and Compean's convictions on obstruction charges and sent the case back for re-sentencing. The sentences are unlikely to be reduced, however, because the court did not reverse the Border Patrol agents' convictions for discharging a firearm during the commission of a crime. This charge has a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years. Rohrabacher said the case was "obviously a miscarriage of justice." He vowed that he would "not give up the fight to save Ramos and Compean" and said the next step - barring a presidential pardon - was a wider appeal to the 5th Circuit or an appeal to the Supreme Court. Royce said he is co-sponsoring legislation that will clarify the firearms law and indicate that it was not intended to apply to law enforcement agents in the course of performing their duties. "The irony here is who would have thought that that law would be applied against a law enforcement officer in the line of duty who feels he is trying to defend himself, which is the case made by agents Ramos and Compean," Royce said. Royce said the legislation is still in its early stages. But, Royce said, the legislation is prospective and not retroactive, so it will have no bearing on Ramos' and Compeans' case. Following the news conference, Royce told CNSNews.com that border agents he has spoken to "cannot comprehend" why the arrest was of the agents and not of the drug smugglers. "The question to them was: who is the government trying to get here: the border control agents who are trying to seal the border, or the smugglers, who are trying to open up the border?" Royce said. Royce said the court's decision will impact the Border Patrol agents' ability to secure the border. He called it a "huge victory" for the open borders lobby. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
