Most of those familiar with the railroading saga of ex-border patrol agents Jose Compean and Ignacio “Nacho” Ramos believe that the root of their prosecution came from the top, that being President George W. Bush. To any who have perused my blog, it will become crystal clear that I hold little credence in the concept of the conspiracy theory. That’s not to say that some conspiracy theories are valid, in fact some are. Most however are complete bunk, like 9/11 conspiracy theories for example. In the case of Ramos and Compean, I believe that our moron of a president made certain that these two border agents would see serious prison time.
This idea became even more evident yesterday when White House press secretary Tony Snow made it quite clear (at least to me) that C-grade President Bush does in fact want Ramos and Compean in jail. Snow’s response to a question concerning the two border agents was snarky, rude, and condescending (see below.)
I suppose Bush is reveling in his lack of popularity. He seems to love it. Even with the coming, and likely changing tides of the November elections, Bush just wants to ensure that the Republicans cede as many seats as possible to the Democrats. Unfortunately, like Bush, most of the Dems are illegal alien lovers themselves, very much in favor of open border policies that overwhelm and strain our economy even more than it already is. California has all but returned to Mexico. Texas is close behind with Arizona and New Mexico close on its’ heels.
Make no mistake. This is what Bush wants–more voters for the Republican party, regardless if they can legally vote or not.
Snow says question on agents’ prison time ‘nonsensical’
Bush spokesman turns back inquiry about jail for officers who injured fleeing smuggler
Asking whether two U.S. Border Patrol agents sentenced to prison for shooting a drug-smuggling suspect in the buttocks is “nonsensical,” according to a White House spokesman, even if it is something of high interest among WND readers.
Yesterday Les Kinsolving, WND’s correspondent at the White House, asked Bush spokesman Tony Snow whether Bush would use his power of pardon to free the agents.
“That’s an unanswerable question, Les. The president is the person who is responsible for pardons. You can tell the network, which made you ask that question, that it is nonsensical,” Snow said.
The question referenced the terms of 11 years and 12 years handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso, Texas, last week. She gave Jose Alonso Compean 12 years in prison and Ignacio Ramos 11 years and one day despite a plea by their attorney for a new trial after three jurors said they were coerced into voting guilty in the case, the Washington Times reported.
As WND has reported, a federal jury convicted Compean, 28, and Ramos, 37, in March after a two-week trial on charges of causing serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence and a civil rights violation.
Ramos is an eight-year veteran of the U.S. Naval Reserve and a former nominee for Border Patrol Agent of the Year.
WND readers have been asking the same question posed to Snow. On a newly-created WND Forums site, which was set up to allow reader input to the WND website, and even to the president, several readers wondered about the situation.
“You should give the both of them a full pardon and inform the judges that they have no [jurisdiction] over the invasion of this country,” wrote cliffhanger. “Also why have you not closed the [border]?”
Keith Lehman also weighed in.
“The rules of engagement should apply. Whether the officer only perceived to see (sic) a weapon, the fleeing criminal had attacked one officer and the other thought that his partner was injured by the fleeing criminal. And as far as the ‘victim’ criminal: When you break the law, you are subject to whatever comes your way – especially when attacking a law enforcement officer,” he said.
“The Border Patrol agents convicted need a pardon yesterday. They then should be returned to their duty, if they so desire, and be reinstated with their record wiped clean and receive all back pay lost to them during this fiasco they call justice.”
Drummerboy simply said the question needs to be answered: will there be a pardon? “Good question, drummerboy,” said squidly.
Ramos, last Feb. 17, responded to a request for back up from Compean, who noticed a suspicious van near the levee road along the Rio Grande River near the Texas town of Fabens, about 40 miles east of El Paso. A third agent also joined the pursuit.
Fleeing was an illegal alien, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila of Mexico. Unknown to the growing number of Border Patrol agents converging on Fabens, Aldrete-Davila’s van was carrying 800 pounds of marijuana.
Aldrete-Davila stopped the van on a levee, jumped out and started running toward the river. When he reached the other side of the levee, he was met by Compean who had anticipated the smuggler’s attempt to get back to Mexico.
“We both yelled out for him to stop, but he wouldn’t stop, and he just kept running,” Ramos told California’s Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.
“At some point during the time where I’m crossing the canal, I hear shots being fired,” Ramos said. “Later, I see Compean on the ground, but I keep running after the smuggler.”
At that point, Ramos said, Aldrete-Davila turned toward him, pointing what looked like a gun.
“I shot,” Ramos said. “But I didn’t think he was hit, because he kept running into the brush and then disappeared into it. Later, we all watched as he jumped into a van waiting for him. He seemed fine. It didn’t look like he had been hit at all.”
In a move that still confuses Ramos and Compean, the U.S. government filed charges against them after giving full immunity to Aldrete-Davila and paying for his medical treatment at an El Paso hospital.
“This is the greatest miscarriage of justice I have ever seen,” said Andy Ramirez of the nonprofit group Friends of the Border Patrol. “This drug smuggler has fully contributed to the destruction of two brave agents and their families and has sent a very loud message to the other Border Patrol agents: If you confront a smuggler, this is what will happen to you.”
Kinsolving also asked Snow about the situation in the race for the Ohio governor’s office, in which the Cincinnati Enquirer reported an Ohio state Republican spokesman said that Democratic Congressman Ted Strickland should have known a man arrested for exposing himself to children was on his congressional payroll.
“Does the president believe it was wrong for this Republican state spokesman to bring up what most of the national media is refusing to report, even as they so repeatedly report the case of Congressman Foley?” Snow was asked.
“I’m just going to refer that one back to the Ohio Republican Party,” Snow said.
Mr. Snow,
Your beliefs on the Ramos- Compean border incident with an ILLEGAL SCUMBAG has won me over to your side. Where do I sign up as an illegal citizen of the U.S. and Oh by the way where do I sign up for my free medical, educational and the vast array of free social services offered us illegal U.S. citizens? One other demand- Please wave my Italian and Ukrainian flag over the white house and send all information to sign up for all my illegal free benefits in the Ukrainian language or I may be forced to file a legal discriminatory lawsuit against you. Thank you.
Mr. Snow,
Your beliefs on the Ramos- Compean border incident with an ILLEGAL SCUMBAG has won me over to your side. Where do I sign up as an illegal citizen of the U.S. and Oh by the way where do I sign up for my free medical, educational and the vast array of free social services offered us illegal U.S. citizens? One other demand- Please wave my Italian and Ukrainian flag over the white house and send all information to sign up for all my illegal free benefits in the Ukrainian language or I may be forced to file a legal discriminatory lawsuit against you. Thank you.
[…] Who knows whether this will help or not, but it can’t hurt. Go here and sign the petition that will likely do nothing to help pardon former border patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. But as I said, it doesn’t hurt. I’ve already covered in-depth the unfortunate plight of Ramos and Compean. Needless to say the ineptitude of our government goes beyond the Iraq fiasco. It often hits home. In this case, it struck wildly and with extreme malice at Compean and Ramos and their families. […]
The “playing card” at the top of this article charges Tony Snow with being a Vietnam Draft Dodger. The charge is false and you should remove the card. Tony was born in 1955 and turned 18 in 1973. The last lottery for the draft was held in 1972, for men born in 1953. In 1973, the US military was converted to an all-volunteer force.
You owe Mr. Snow an apology.
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_lottery_(1969)
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_snow
Rob,
I didn’t create that playing card image. I just found it on the internets. I could care less whether Snow dodged the draft, bulls in Pamplona, or balls.
However, I will appologize to Snow if and when Bush appologizes to agents Ramos and Compean, as well as all of America for the damage he’s done to this country, its citizenry, and its reputation. Until that time, Bush’s mouthpiece can suck my balls.
Thanks for your post.
The will of US citizens has been subverted. Our phony leaders would have us believe that no simple problem has a correspondingly simple solution. We are constantly vexed by twisted legalism and irrational policies. The rule of law is binding on those who respect law, but irrelevant to those who disobey law. Non-citizens have endless rights while citizens have endless obligations to accommodate non-citizens in every imaginable way.
So what’s going on? Illegal immigration is an important agent in the process of transferring money from the public sector to the hands of relatively few wealthy people. I would like to research a new birthing center which is being built in Dallas, Texas. It will be huge and expensive. I think someone suggested it will cost $300 million. It will serve mostly illegal, indigent Mexican women. Think of everyone who will make money: pharmaceutical companies, medical equipment manufacturing companies, contractors, physicians, and others. The pregnant illegal women are the AGENT facilitating the transfer of tax payer money to those individuals. If you say corporations, I will say stockholders, so the money makers are still “relatively few wealthy people.”
There are plenty of people like me who want to save my country (and my comfortable life style) before it is too late. The problem is to find or create an effective organization that can harness the energies of the angry and disaffected people who contribute these posts. If the invasion doesn’t stop soon, the country will fail.
Follow the money. Those who benefit from the illegal invasion are those who are orchestrating events that enable it to continue. Now you know your enemy! Is the war in Iraq about terrorism or spreading democracy? No, it’s about transferring wealth from the public sector to private individuals. Illegal drugs? Okay, I think you’re catching on. Remember the savings and loan fiasco during the Reagan administration? People would have you believe that savings and loans “lost” enormous sums of money. The money was not lost, it was transferred. Is the Federal Reserve Bank part of the government? No, it’s a private bank and it prints and otherwise issues money that you and I spend. Is prime rate interest really interest or tax? It’s tax, and it represents a transfer of wealth from citizens (public sector) to a bank (relatively few wealthy people).
Time is running out.
John, there are no simple problems or simple solutions and to act like illegal immigrants have it easy is absolutely absurd.
The truth in this case is that the Border Patrol officers are not heroes and neither is Aldrete-Davila. The officers shot at a man they knew was unarmed and had committed no wrong doing that they knew about at that point other than refusing to stop his van and then fleeing back toward the Mexican border. The officers knew he was without a weapon and that there was absolutely no threat to their lives. The man held up his hands in surrender yet he was fired at. Not only that but they attempted to cover up their mistakes and failed to report the incident; a clear case of obstruction of justice. How could anyone reasonably call these men heroes? I’m not familiar enough with our legal system to judge whether the sentences are too harsh or not but to call for a full pardon of the men is to essentially ignore all the facts of the case.
Chris,
The central issue I have with your comment is your statement that Ramos and Compean knew the illegal alien didn’t have a weapon. How do you know that? They claim they thought he had a gun in their testimony.
The lawyers for the illegal would like you to believe that the officers shot wily-nily knowing he didn’t have a gun, but they can’t prove what someone believes, in this case, whether the officer in question believed the alien had a weapon and was going to use it against him. Testimony during the trial stated the officers believed the alien might have had a weapon in his hand, and that he was turning to use it. What would you do in tha situation? Wait to see if what he had expelled a bullet in your direction? I would not.
This is the unfortunate predicament that all police officers are currently mired in–you’re dammed if you do (prosecution and jail time) and you’re damned if you don’t (death.)
They said that they believed he had a gun but other than their testimony that he appeared to be reaching back for a weapon, absolutely nothing indicated that he was armed. The evidence suggests that the officers knew there was no gun: [U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton] …questioned the agents’ claim that they thought the smuggler had a gun. “The evidence reflects something completely different,” he said. “The agents did not take cover and did not tell other agents to Get down. Someone has a gun.'” If they truly thought he had a gun they would have properly responded by hitting the ground or taking cover.
The fact that agents attempted to collect all of the shells fired and did not report the incident gives further creedence to the idea that they knew they had acted rashly because the man was unarmed.
I’m just shocked that so many people are defending these guys. Not only did these men make a mistake but they attempted to cover it up as well and filed a false report.
Their sentence, by federal law, must be 10 years at least. I would hope that they could at least be kept in partial isolation away from other prisoners to avoid harm coming to them in that manner, but frankly, they don’t deserve a full pardon. Their actions were beyond incompetent; they were deliberately deceitful.
Chris,
Your statement is an almost identical quote of Sutton’s interview last week on a San Diego radio station. Of course, the concept that ‘absolutely nothing indicated that he [Davila] was armed’ is what the prosecution wanted everyone to believe as part of their case, but you simply cannot tell the border agent that the alien did not have a gun if he, the agent, felt otherwise. Period.
I do not discount the fact that the agents acted improperly by collecting shells and filing false paperwork, but any ammount of jail time for a paperwork violation is preposterous. At the most, these men should simply have lost their jobs for their dishonesty (sort of like what should have happend to President Bush for lying to the American people in order to get us into Iraq–unfortunately, Bush is still our President.) The fact of the matter remains that Davila did not ship that particular van-load of drugs because of the efforts of Ramos and Compean. Thank god for their dilligence.
Davila is an illegal alien drug-smuggler who, after this initial incident, was caught once more smuggling copious ammounts of drugs into the U.S. while the American government was treating him as an honored guest in order to destroy the lives of Ramos and Compean.
Sutton is a poor example of a human being. The simple fact the he compared the border agents to Stanley Tookie Willams speaks volumes about who he is as a person and completely tosses out the window any idea of credibility and integrity this man might have once had.
In this case, the bad guys won.
I believe that is the quote from the radio program actually.
Why should we take the agents’ word for it after they attempted a cover-up? The fact that they attempted a cover-up makes it very clear in my eyes that these guys knew they had committed a serious crime while trying to apprehend a criminal. The truth is the Border Patrol Agents are the obviously far less credible party in this whole fiasco.
I’m with you on Bush by the way.
As for the pot, I’m not sure I could care less. Cannabis is the 1# cash crop of the United States and The War on Drugs is a joke.
Davila probably isn’t a great guy and Sutton’s a lawyer and I’m sure you’ve heard all those jokes but that is immaterial. The fact is these trained agents performed their duties beyond poorly.
Thanks for your comments, Chris. I completely disagree with your outlook in this matter, and I would even go so far as to say it’s a bit heartless, but there are many who feel as you do.
Unfortunately, while living in Los Angeles, I’ve seen drugs destroy people, families, and neighborhoods, so while the war on drugs has been a failure, I do not think it should be given unfought.
So while I do encourage dissenting viewpoints on my blog, I also recognize when people simply won’t meet on a particular issue. I would encourage you to start your own blog and discuss your thoughts there. We’ll obviously never meet eye to eye on this particular event.
I recall Tony Snow, sitting if for RUSH, criticizing the Veteran Administration under Clinton for trying to collect money from the mother of medal of honor recipient Aflredo Gonzalez. Snow won me over as he commented that no government infallible and continued to be critical of big government.
I am extremely disappointed in Snow’s lack of credibility, integrity, and lack of balls by his support of the prosecution of Ramos and Compean.
I don’t think I could listen to Snow again once he returns to private life as a radio commentator.
GREAT BLOG!
SUBJECT:
US District Court in El Paso Shows Pattern of Unethical and Deceptive Practices
Dear Chairman Editor Hercubus Worldpress.com:
I would like to point out the similarities between the prosecution and imprisonment of the US Border Patrol Agents Jose Compean, Ignacio Ramos and that of an El Paso doctor, There is a definite pattern of illegal, unethical and deceptive practices in these two cases.
Much can be learned about this controversy by looking at a recent case, in which U.S. Assistant Attorney (AUSA), Debra Kanof prosecuted in El Paso. A complete posting of all of this revealing case has been published on the internet under the site name http://www.doctorbfiles.com. This site has an exhaustively complete filing of the entire case which AUSA Kanof brought against this prominent El Paso doctor. What is so disturbing about this particular case is that this doctor has been able to prove, through the use of extensive case documents, that AUSA Kanof, alone and in conjunction with other federal agents including the District Court Judge David Briones, repeatedly lied to the grand jury and to the petit jury, encouraged prosecution witnesses to lie to the court with their testimonies, and generally sought to undermine the integrity and fundamental fairness of the criminal proceedings. You have to read the allegations and the evidence that supports them to believe the extent to which AUSA Kanof attempted to bend the proceedings to her personal will, justice be damned. This all can be appreciated at this website, at the following locations:
Section V, exhibit i. under subsection of the
Lies of AUSA Debra Kanof.
exhibits j. and k. which are the
affidavits and other proofs that support
allegations in exhibit i.
Sections V. exhibit k., k., k., k., k., k., which is
a copy of the El Paso Times news article of
October 11, 2006.
Updates 23, 38 and 40, will give you a general flavor of
what has, and is transpiring in this ongoing saga, as this
case is still on appeal, at the 5th Circuit of Appeals,
Case # 06-51349.
There are facts that show conspiracy and corruption in the Federal Judicial / Justice system in El Paso that is more than just a coincidence:
1 (a). El Paso Times runs an article that an inmate’s papers went missing when he mailed them to Judge Briones. Go to Dr Bieganowski’s Website, Click on: Table of Contents, then click on: Page 5 Section 5, then click 5y “(7-03-06) Article from the El Paso Times”.
1 (b). Dr Bieganowski’s motion went missing when he mailed it to Judge Briones. There is proof that the US Attorney’s Office intercepted this & prevented the filing.
2 (a). Kanof lies and withholds exculpatory evidence in the Border Patrol case.
2 (b). USDA Kanof also withholds exculpatory evidence needed in Dr Bieganowski’s trial. All of the proof can be seen in the brief in support of 2255 motion on the website.
3 (a). There was evidence of FBI lies and abuse in Dr Bieganowski’s case and the questionable suicide of one of the FBI Agents just as Dr Bieganowski’s trial was starting.
3 (b). Now the Head of the FBI in El Paso has been sent to prison for criminal activity.
See U.S.A. Today, on 3-7-07, report which shows criminal activity in El Paso FBI Office. This plus the problems in the US Attorney’s Office, shows a pattern of corruption in the Federal Judicial / Justice System in El Paso. “TEXAS: El Paso — The former head of the FBI”s El Paso bureau has reported to prison, Hardrick Crawford was convicted last year of lying to investigators about his relationship with Mexican race track owner Jose Maria Guardia, and making false statements on financial disclosure reports about gifts from Guardia. Crawford must serve six months in prison. . . .” This as well as Dr Bieganowski’s evidence shows a Judicial system that needs to be fixed and justice for all, but especially for those who have been victimized by a broken system.
Some think that US Attorney Johnny Sutton was the one who prosecuted the Border Patrol case. This is not the truth—it was USDA Kanof. Sutton is out front, because he is the supervisor. He is shielding Kanof. I suppose because he is afraid of her reputation and Dr Bieganowski’s website and the potential devastating effect of what she is and has done will add to this.
There is a peculiar situation with Ms. Mary Stillinger. This is the attorney for Border Patrol Agent Ramos. She was also part of Dr Bieganowski’s trial and knows the whole sordid AUSA Kanof story. The question that begs to be asked is: Why is she trying to protect Kanof? Is she afraid of something? There is something strange here that needs to come to the attention of more people.
Please take a look at how AUSA Kanof is running rough shod over our fellow citizens (Ramos, Compean and Dr Bieganowski) in US District Court, and perpetrating miscarriages of justice. If AUSA Kanof and the District Judge are lying and manipulating the court, what else will they try to do? Could this happen to us? I think that if any part of the trial is illegal then both cases should be retried without delay. I, also, believe that the personal freedoms of each one of us are at stake. Go to to Dr Bieganowski’s web site at http://www.doctorbfiles.com, it will show how this gang does their dirty work.
Sincerely,
Ray Tillman,
PS: Dr. Bieganowski is willing to be interviewed by any news reporter or journalist to tell about these lies, tactics and unethical actions of our US Justice System.
Address: A. Bieganowski #90310-080, FCI Fort Worth, P.O. Box 15330, Fort Worth, Tx 76119
home page: http://www.doctorbfiles.com
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