Reps. Walter Jones and Sue Myrick, Republicans from North Carolina’s 3rd and 9th Districts, respectively, have joined 13 other congressmen to request that the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration conduct a hearing on the conviction of two border control agents who are due to enter federal prison in January.
The agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, were convicted of shooting an illegal alien in the buttocks after he fled from them. The suspect, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, had carried 743 pounds of marijuana across the U.S. border near El Paso, Texas.
Ramos and Compean were sentenced on Oct. 19, Ramos to 11 years and Compean to 12 years. They are scheduled to begin serving their time Jan. 17. Both are appealing their verdicts.
The request for an immediate hearing was made in a letter on Friday from the congressmen to House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin.
“Both Ramos and Compean will appeal these sentences through their counsel,” the letter states. “However, their struggle to overturn these convictions would be greatly aided by a Congressional inquiry into their case. There are several discrepancies in this case which strongly question whether justice was served, thus demonstrating the need for an immediate Congressional hearing.”
Twelve congressmen, including Jones and Myrick, in October had requested a presidential pardon for the two agents. At an Oct. 23 press conference a reporter asked White House spokesman Tony Snow whether President Bush would pardon the agents, and Snow characterized the question as “nonsensical.” That drew Jones’s ire.
“Unfortunately, your comments reinforced the perception that the Administration is indifferent toward the agents’ case,” Jones wrote in an Oct. 31 letter to Snow. “Despite my repeated requests for an investigation of this case and, most recently, a request by a dozen members of Congress for the President to pardon the agents, the Administration has collectively dismissed the concerns of elected members of Congress and countless citizens throughout the country.”
Jones also called the Justice Department’s pursuit of the case against the agents “overzealous” and “unjust.” After failing to hear a response from the White House on the pardon, Jones had harsher words for President Bush in a letter dated November 15.
“With an approval rating hovering near thirty percent,” Jones wrote, “it is obvious and evident that the citizens of our nation have been disappointed with your Administration — and I believe your inaction on this issue is a key reason why.”
In October the congressmen who had requested the pardon, including House Immigration Reform Caucus Chairman Tom Tancredo of Colorado, defended the agents, saying they were properly carrying out their duties.
“During this case there have been numerous questions raised about the accuracy of the charges against the agents, the conduct of the prosecutor, and whether the drug smuggler was armed and dangerous at the border,” the letter from the congressmen read.
According to a report in the Inland Valley (Calif.) Daily Bulletin, in February 2005 Ramos and Compean pursued Aldrete-Davila, whom Ramos believed was brandishing a gun and was threatening the agents. Ramos shot the smuggler as he fled back into Mexico.
Aldrete-Davila was granted immunity in order to testify against the two border patrol agents. They were convicted of assault with a deadly weapon; discharge of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence; assault with serious bodily injury; and a civil rights violation, the Daily Bulletin reported.
Ramos had been nominated for the Border Patrol Agent of the Year Award early last year.
In the Friday letter that requested a hearing, Jones, Myrick and the other congressmen asked for Judiciary Committee action before Democrats take over Congress in January.
“By denying Congressional hearings to Ramos and Compean, we are effectively turning our backs on the Border Patrol and the duty we entrust to them to secure our borders,” the congressmen wrote. “We ask that the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration Subcommittee schedule a hearing before the 109th Congress adjourns to address the case of Ramos and Compean and the questionable facts that were used to sentence them to federal prison.”
Paul Chesser ([email protected]) is associate editor of Carolina Journal.