Letters To The Editor, 02.14.07

As an editor for Fire Society I receive a lot of e-mail on a daily basis. Sunday morning I received one that I felt should be shared with you, our members regarding imprisoned former U.S Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean that I thought would be helpful to many of our team members.

Did the DHS actually lie?
I have a question concerning a report that the government lied concerning evidence in regards to the [Border Agent's]. The article states "DHS" admitted to the lie. The DHS is a big organization with many branches. Was it the FBI that lied? Plus where can I obtain specifics with the ability to confirm the information...

One of the steps we as editors for Fire Society take to ensure accurate reporting is to back up our articles with links to our sources. In this particular instance, we also linked you to a video. It is a report by CNN Correspondent Casey Wian on the Lou Dobb's Tonight show. It can be seen on CNN nightly from 6-7PM Eastern Standard Time.

In his report, Casey Wian not only speaks with several lawmakers, but he details a report from the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General on the case. It wasn't just a department of the DHS that admitted to lying. It was in fact DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner, who admitted to members of congress that the DHS investigators had 'misled' them. That very report is available as a PDF online.

Another resource available is the Federal News Service. This service provides full length transcripts of all congressional hearings, unfortunately there is a fee related to the procurement of these transcripts.

What about mistakes border agents made?
Another email I would like to share with the member's came to me last week.

I was happy to forward your info about the border patrol agent's plight and I believe it is a grave injustice. I encouraged all my friends to do something and contact the President.

What bothers me, is that you have made no effort to clarify the mistakes that they made, which unfortunately led to the jury "under the law" convicting them. I still believe the harsh sentence they received is totally unfair and they should be pardoned, but how can you expect people to believe you if you don't make every effort to make sure you are being accurate.

Many of you know already know our point of view, and some know the Government's point of view. If not, here are some resources for clearing up any questions you may have.

On January 17th, US Prosecuting Attorney Johnny Sutton released a document that he called Myth verses Reality -- the Facts on why the Government Prosecuted Agent's Ramos and Compean. In it, he provides his one-sided view of the case. You can see the PDF document online here.

In an attempt to show the Border Patrol's side of things, the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) released a document rebutting the statements made by Johnny Sutton in regards to Agents Ramos and Compean. You can view that report here. In the report, the NBPC covers all the statements made by Johnny Sutton in his press release and then reviews each Statement with facts from their own investigation including statements from the other Border Patrol Agent's on the scene the day of the incident.

I also recommend you read the letter to Congress from Joe Loya, Agent Ramos' father-in-law, who provides a very detailed description of what happened on that day.

As one of the editors of Fire Society, I have enjoyed watching this community grow. It has been a pleasure responding to these as well as all the emails that have come in. Please keep the community growing and I look forward to highlighting other questions that pour into our in-box.

If you have a question, feel free to contact me, as well as the other editors, at editor@firesociety.com

Sean Ivy