Ramos and Compean: Illegal Immigration Issue Leaves No Justice For Border Agents
Guest Commentary by Laurie Roth
This week I thought I would lose my mind when I heard of the horrifying decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals against Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. So many of us who had followed this case for the last few years were hoping that once all the evidence had finally been heard, unlike with the first trial, that justice would be done. Wrong!! Justice was not done!!! You may recall in the first trial that the illegal alien, drug thug Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, who brought 743 pounds of marijuana over our border was given immunity by Prosecutor Sutton to testify against the two agents. I remember hearing Sutton and his cronies implying that the two agents were rogue racists against Mexicans and had shot a poor, desperate illegal alien in the back of the butt while he was running away from them. On and on the distortion, misinformation….ok….lies went on. I had thought from the very beginning that the racist accusations regarding the two agents against Mexicans was fascinating since Ramos and Compean are Mexican-Americans. It was also fascinating that ‘suddenly’ these two long standing, almost awarding winning agents, Dads and husbands would suddenly decide to break the rules and try and kill an unarmed, desperate illegal alien running away from them. The only problem with Sutton’s idiot revelations was that folks like Dr. Jerry Corsi, lawyers and those concerned with the real truth started uncovering the facts and it was crystal clear that the poor little illegal alien wasn’t just a one time, accidental tourist of sorts, but a career drug thug who had come across the border with several drug shipments. It also became clear that there was no bullet hole in the back of poor little Davila’s butt, but rather it was through the side of his hip and had traveled into his groin area. This reflected the exact testimony of the two agents that they shot in self-defense and thought he had a gun pointed at them. He would have been turned back toward them to get shot through the side of the hip, NOT the back of the butt as Sutton testified. Who would you believe in court? The illegal alien drug dealer who lied to everyone and was arrested many times carrying drugs, but was magically given immunity to testify against Ramos and Compean, or the two long standing and well liked border patrol agents who said they fired in self-defense and didn’t even know they had hit Davila? Given the insanity that they were even arrested in the first place, let alone convicted and thrown in prison, I was naturally so relieved and thrilled that finally an appeal was in process. Those of us looking on for the last few years of suffering and horror with these two families, hoped that justice would finally be done. Apparently not yet! I couldn’t help but notice, as the families did, how LONG the decision by the 5th Circuit Court took. It took way longer than usual. Why? In addition, many of us also remember the numerous public statements by at least two of the three Judges who said several times on the record they were suspicious of the federal case against the agents and the inappropriate out of context use of 924c. How is it now, with all that was revealed this time, the immunity given to a guy who had continuously been arrested for bringing drugs across our border, the misuse of 924c to justify the obscene 11 and 12 year sentence and the endless other inconsistencies revealed in this case that this kind of decision could occur? What now? We can’t just say this was another bad decision, but that is how it goes. Congressman Duncan Hunter said this week, “Those of us who have been following this case from the very beginning were confident that the Fifth Circuit, based on the evidence at hand, would rightfully correct this miscarriage of justice…Unfortunately, the Fifth Circuit decided to uphold this severe injustice.” Congressman Hunter also said in a released statement on his Government web site that, “Agents Ramos and Compean were convicted based on the testimony of a known drug dealer that has since been convicted for running drugs into the U.S. while serving as the government’s star witness. The fact that the drug dealer’s criminal activity persisted even as he took the stand against these agents is reason enough to vacate these two convictions.” Rep. Hunter stated he plans to appeal to the President again to review the facts of this case and immediately pardon Agents Ramos and Compean. Congressman Ted Poe (R-Texas) has also weighed in and stated how bad the decision was and stated when congress put through U.S.C. section 924c that it was never meant to be applied against law enforcement officers. Poe promised he would get this horrible misuse and confusion regarding 924c clarified in Congress immediately. That is all nice, if they finally clarify this, but will it be retroactive to help the agents rotting in prison? Let’s all weigh in on this and keep the pressure on our Congress and President, especially since our courts are failing in this case! Call, e-mail and fax your Representative and President Bush and say you want a pardon for Agent Ramos and Agent Compean now. E-mail Rep. Ted Poe and Rep. Duncan Hunter and share your support for their efforts to make this right. You can find contact info at
* Laurie Roth is an author and host of the nationally syndicated “Laurie Roth Show” www.therothshow.com which is broadcast out of Washington state on the IRN-USA Radio Network. The Roth Show can be streamed at this link: http://www.usaradio.com/listen_live_usa2.php or go to the web site to see if the program is available in your local area: http://www.therothshow.com/listen07.htm
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