http://www.freecongress.org/commentaries/2007/071024.aspx

 

Outrage: The Mistreatment of Two Border Patrol Agents

By Paul M. Weyrich.
October 24, 2007

Do you recognize the names of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean? You should. They are the former Border Patrol Agents who were convicted and sentenced to eleven and twelve years in federal prison, respectively, for wounding a Mexican drug smuggler who brought 743 pounds of marijuana across the U.S. border.

Representatives Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and John Culberson (R-TX), along with 41 other Members of Congress, including Representative Ralph M. Hall (R-TX), who is Chairman of the Board of the Free Congress Foundation, have written to Judge Michael B. Mukasey, President Bush’s nominee for Attorney General. They point out that the two agents were prosecuted by Johnny Sutton, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas. Sutton granted immunity to the drug smuggler, provided him free health care and granted unconditional border-crossing cards so he would testify against the agents. The Congressmen want Mukasey to investigate the situation. In his confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mukasey agreed to do so.

In arguing for the investigation, these Members of Congress expressed great concern over the treatment of Agents Ramos and Compean. Both officers are held in solitary confinement 23 hours per day. The conditions, the Congressmen argued, are far worse than those for suspected terrorists held in Guantanamo Bay. Ramos was placed in solitary confinement because he was assaulted in a different facility earlier this year. His assailants never were charged. The Members of Congress are very concerned about the pattern of prosecutorial overreach by Sutton. Rohrabacher has long been concerned about the close relationship between Sutton, President George W. Bush and former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales.

The Members of Congress compared the conditions of Ramos and Compean with the imprisoned terrorists at Guantanamo Bay. What they discovered is an outrage. The men who want to blow up Americans are far better off than these two very decent agents, who are the victims of a vindictive prosecutorial program demanded by the President, reinforced by former Attorney General Gonzales and finally carried out by Sutton. The comparison is as follows:

Ramos and Compean Special Housing Units: Administrative detention is a non-punitive status in which restricted conditions of confinement are required only to ensure the safety of inmates or others. It would appear that Ramos and Compean are abused in this case inasmuch as they are compelled to spend 23 hours in their cells. Ramos and Compean are not permitted to participate in any recreational activity outside of their exercise cages. Only one hour outdoors is permitted per day. All outdoor recreation is limited to concrete, open air, chain link enclosures with high walls. Ramos is limited to three showers weekly with no shower on the weekends. The officers receive no special meals or extra food privileges. Ramos has lost more than 30 pounds. All their meals are served alone in their cells. They are not permitted to watch television. They have a limited commissary list and do not enjoy the same privileges as the general population. After a brutal assault by five inmates Ramos was not taken to a medical facility or a physician for several days. Nor did Ramos receive the proper medication for a previous condition for four months. They are allowed only one 15-minute telephone call every 30 days.

Gitmo detainees in Camp 4: Camp 4, the only medium security camp at Guantanamo Bay, is the most sought-after camp. It offers detainees the privilege of living in a communal setting which offers more freedoms and perks. Inmates receive up to nine hours of exercise and recreation a day. Exercise yards attached to the living quarters include covered picnic tables, ping-pong tables, soccer fields and volleyball courts. Showers are available daily after exercise. They receive 4,200 calories a day and have ice cream parties on Sundays and access to Subway. Their meals are eaten together in cell blocks. They have permission to watch Arabic family television programs and soccer and have personal visits from librarians with books and magazines. They receive the same medical treatment as U.S. military personnel at state-of-the-art medical facilities.

These 43 Members of the House of Representatives are outraged that vicious anti-American prisoners, many of whom leave the prison and return to war against us, live much better than the Border Patrol agents and they hope Mukasey will undertake an objective and thorough investigation of this matter if, as is likely, he is confirmed as Attorney General. Let us hope he does.

Paul M. Weyrich is Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation

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Thanks for posting this, Busygirl.  I hope that Mukasey does undertake an investigation .... but I'm not holding my breath.  Remember who nominated him.

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Yes, good point. How much can we actually expect of him when his boss does nothing but appose us.

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About the ONLY good thing I have to say about my rep, Delahunt, is that he did attempt to hold hearings with Sutton regarding this issue.  Sutton, of course, did not show up....supposedly because the department was under the impression it was hearings into Mexican government involvement, which they claimed Sutton could not talk about.  Sure!  COULD not or WOULD not??  News: Democrat calls for agents' commutation | delahunt, case, department, sutton, hearing - OCRegister.com

Democrat calls for border agents' commutation

U.S. attorney in charge of the case is a no-show at House hearing on border shooting.

WASHINGTON A Democratic subcommittee chairman Tuesday added his voice to the calls of Republican lawmakers that President Bush commute the sentences of two former border patrol agents convicted for shooting a fleeing drug dealer at the Mexican border.

Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., held a hearing before his subcommittee on international organizations, human rights and oversight. Delahunt labeled the more than decade-long sentences former agents Jose Campean and Ignacio Ramos received as "harsh, disproportionate and excessive.''

"I join with others today who have called on President Bush to commute the sentences of these two men,'' said Delahunt. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who along with a large group of GOP lawmakers has called on the president to do that, said Delahunt's support in this matter was key. Two weeks ago, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., also urged Bush to let the two out of prison.

Campean and Ramos were convicted in Texas last year of shooting Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila in the buttocks while he was running away from them at the Mexican border. They were also found guilty of covering up the incident and tampering with evidence.

Delahunt was particularly irked that the Justice Department refused to allow the U.S. attorney in charge of the case, Johnny Sutton, to testify at the hearing and that the Department of Homeland Security also refused to send a representative. He told the panel that Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., has agreed to hold a full committee session on this matter this fall and that he will demand that Sutton appear. Delahunt also plans to ask Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., to get involved.

"I can only conclude that this is one more example of arrogance on the part of the Department of Justice,'' said Delahunt, who compared the quick commutation Bush gave to former vice presidential aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby with the lack of action on this case.

Justice Department officials have said that Sutton would not appear because the case is still on appeal. They also said that the subcommittee's inquiry was billed as investigating the involvement, if any, of the Mexican government in this case and that Sutton could not be of any help in that matter.

Several lawmakers pointed out that Sutton did appear before a Senate hearing called by Feinstein and has made numerous media appearances in recent weeks.

"There have been so many questionable statements and bad decisions that this case stinks to high heaven,'' Rohrabacher said at the hearing. "No shows at hearings, oblivious denials and further misstatements of the facts will not remove the stench.''

The only government witnesses to attend Tuesday's hearing were representatives from the State Department who testified that they could find nothing in their records to indicate that the Mexican government had communicated with them about the case of the two border agents. Lawmakers were questioning whether the Justice and Homeland Security departments were circumventing the State Department in their inquiry.

 

Contact the writer: (202) 628-6381 or dbunis@ocregister.com

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Im surprised they didnt try again Patsy. I wonder if anything was done. It seems like theyve been just doing little things for show and waiting for us to forget.

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Beats the heck out of me, bugsy.  I've written to him, emailed him and called his office and no one seems to be able to give a straight forward answer on what WAS accomplished, what will be done in the future, or anything.

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