Border Agents Face 20 Years For Securing Border

Center for Individual Freedom

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. Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent and personalized 30 Blast Fax messages to President George W. Bush and the leadership of the House and Senate. Our elected leaders will return to Washington D.C. shortly and it is vitally important that they know that you have not lost your resolve. Tell them that the American people want secure borders first and foremost and that any legislation that grants a path to citizenship for those who have flouted our laws and come to the United States illegally is off the table. http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/amnestyxviic.html AOL Members Use This Hyperlink If the above hyperlink does not function, please copy and paste it into the address bar of your browser. You may be asking yourself, what does Ramos and Compean’s sad tale have to do with so-called “comprehensive immigration reform?” The answer is EVERYTHING! Simply put, such a travesty of justice could only occur in an environment of ambiguity — and that is exactly what “comprehensive immigration reform” — as the Senate calls it — creates. The lack of a strong, no-nonsense immigration policy sends those who flout our laws the wrong message. Ambiguous laws and immigration policies effectively tell the would-be illegal alien and those whose job it is to enforce our immigration laws that the United States has no resolve when it comes to securing our borders. Perhaps Andy Ramirez of the nonprofit group Friends of the Border Patrol said it best when commenting on the Ramos-Compean story: “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.” If we — as a nation — are really serious about fixing the problem of illegal immigration, we MUST send a clear and unmistakable message that America’s borders are indeed secure and that crossing those borders illegally will not be tolerated — PERIOD! You cannot speak of tough enforcement and programs that give amnesty and pathways to citizenship in the same breath. It’s ridiculous beyond reason. But that’s exactly what our politicians in Washington want to do! And that’s why we MUST continue to send our own message to our elected leaders. The American people want secure borders and tough enforcement, AND NO AMNESTY — END OF SENTENCE! Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent and personalized 30 Blast Fax messages to President George W. Bush and the leadership of the House and Senate. Our elected leaders will return to Washington D.C. shortly and it is vitally important that they know that you have not lost your resolve. Tell them that the American people want secure borders first and foremost and that any legislation that grants a path to citizenship for those who have flouted our laws and come to the United States illegally is off the table. http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/amnestyxviic.html AOL Members Use This Hyperlink If the above hyperlink does not function, please copy and paste it into the address bar of your browser. According to most polls, the vast and overwhelming majority of Americans want the government to stop illegal entry into the country before discussing what to do about the estimated 12 million people already living in the U.S. illegally. The folks at Grassfire.org conducted a nationwide poll last week and found that 73 percent of respondents view the illegal immigration situation as a “serious problem,” and 81 percent want the government to secure the borders before deciding what to do about illegal aliens already in the U.S. And in May, a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll found that 86 percent of Americans view illegal immigration as either “very serious” or “somewhat serious.” But our elected leaders aren’t listening to the American people. Our elected leaders, particularly in the Senate, still want so-called “comprehensive reform” that is long on amnesty and short on enforcement. Who are they listening to? Maybe they’re listening to Laura Reiff, the co-chair of the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition, who recently said: “You’re deluding yourself to say that you’re going to fix the problem by securing the border, because the border will never be secured.” Can you imagine what would happen if we applied that misguided standard to other existing laws? Could you imagine what would happen if we applied “comprehensive solutions” to other crimes such as say, murder? Laws exist — among other reasons — to deter people from committing illegal acts. Weakening or not enforcing the law simply serves to encourage more illegal acts. In fact, the reason we have more than 12 million illegal aliens living and working in the shadows of our country today is because our government has refused to enforce current immigration laws already on the books. Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent and personalized 30 Blast Fax messages to President George W. Bush and the leadership of the House and Senate. Our elected leaders will return to Washington D.C. shortly and it is vitally important that they know that you have not lost your resolve. Tell them that the American people want secure borders first and foremost and that any legislation that grants a path to citizenship for those who have flouted our laws and come to the United States illegally is off the table. http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/amnestyxviic.html AOL Members Use This Hyperlink If the above hyperlink does not function, please copy and paste it into the address bar of your browser. We’ve tried “comprehensive solutions” to the problem of illegal immigration. They simply don’t work! Moreover, it can be said that our present immigration crisis is being fueled by the “comprehensive solutions” that constitute the sum of our present immigration policy: In 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which granted amnesty to 3 million aliens but also called for tough immigration enforcement measures. 12 million illegal aliens and 20 years later… the American people are STILL WAITING for the “tough immigration enforcement measures” called for in IRCA to be implemented. James R. Edwards Jr. of the Hudson Institute recently told a House Judiciary subcommittee, “The Senate amnesty would condemn the United States to the same harmful consequences that IRCA caused… Only now, its effects would be far, far worse.” Congressman John Hostettler, the chairman of the subcommittee on immigration, border security and claims recently said; “Time showed us that IRCA has utterly and completely failed… Illegal immigration has not been controlled, but has increased significantly in the past two decades.” Our choice is clear. We can compound the failures of the past and go down the road to disaster. Or we can say enough is enough… put our foot down once and for all and demand that our elected leaders give us secure borders and tough enforcement! Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent and personalized 30 Blast Fax messages to President George W. Bush and the leadership of the House and Senate. Our elected leaders will return to Washington D.C. shortly and it is vitally important that they know that you have not lost your resolve. Tell them that the American people want secure borders first and foremost and that any legislation that grants a path to citizenship for those who have flouted our laws and come to the United States illegally is off the table. http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/amnestyxviic.html AOL Members Use This Hyperlink If the above hyperlink does not function, please copy and paste it into the address bar of your browser. Jeff Mazzella President www.cfif.org The CFIF Action Alert is a service to the conservative community. If you would like to subscribe please go to www.cfif.org/signup. Center for Individual Freedom 113 S. Columbus St., Suite 310 Alexandria, VA 22314 703-535-5836 Fax:703-535-5838 CFIF is a 501(c)(4) not-for-profit constitutional advocacy organization with the mission to protect and defend individual freedoms and individual rights. 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