Border Agents Face Prison For Securing Border

Tom Lee of the Center For Individual Freedom joined me this morning with details...

The next time you hear a Member of Congress speak about so-called "comprehensive immigration reform," remember the story of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.

Ramos and Compean are U.S. Border Patrol agents who are facing 20 years in prison for attempting to apprehend an illegal alien -- who was also smuggling drugs -- at the border.

Hard to believe, but it's true! Consider this account of the incident from the Internet magazine WorldNetDaily.com:

"When Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos pulled the trigger last February, all he knew was that his partner was lying on the ground behind him -- bloodied from a struggle with a fleeing suspect -- shots had been fired and now, it appeared, the drug smuggler he was pursuing had turned toward him with what looked to be a gun in his hand...

"Ramos, 37, is an eight-year veteran of the U.S. Naval Reserve and a former nominee for Border Patrol Agent of the Year.

"On February 17, he responded to a request for back up from agent Jose Alonso Compean, 28, 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...

"Behind the wheel of the van 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.

"Unable to outrun Ramos and the third agent, Aldrete-Davila stopped the van on the 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. Aldrete-Davila crossed a canal.

"'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.'"

But that wasn't the end of the story! Two weeks later, a Border Patrol Agent received a call from the drug smuggler's mother-in-law in Mexico who claimed that Ramos had actually shot the drug smuggler in the buttocks.

And our own government filed charges against Ramos and Compean for violating the civil rights of this illegal aliens and felon.

In the words of U.S. Assistant District Attorney Debra Kanof, "The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled it is a violation of someone's Fourth Amendment rights to shoot them in the back while fleeing if you don't know who they are and/or if you don't know they have a weapon."

That's not all. Not only did our government give immunity to this drug smuggler to obtain his testimony at the trial, but this illegal alien and drug smuggler is now suing Ramos for $5 million dollars.