[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 17 (Monday, January 29, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H964]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            TWO U.S. BORDER PATROL AGENTS IN FEDERAL PRISON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Courtney). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, the pages are helping me 
put up the portrait of an injustice. The picture shows two U.S. Border 
Agents on January 17, 2007, turning themselves in to United States 
marshals to begin serving 11 and 12 years respectively in Federal 
prison.
  U.S. Border Agents Ramos, who is at the bottom of this portrait, and 
Compean, at the top, were convicted last spring for wounding a Mexican 
drug smuggler who brought 743 pounds of marijuana across our southern 
border into Texas. These men never should have been prosecuted, yet 
they are now handcuffed in Federal prison.
  Mr. Speaker, after months of silence, the President said in a 
television interview last week that he would take a sober look at the 
case and a tough look at the facts to see whether the agents should be 
pardoned. For the agents' sake, I am hopeful that the President will 
look into this case as soon as possible. The facts will tell the 
President what countless citizens and Members of Congress already know, 
that the U.S. Attorney's Office was on the wrong side in this case.
  The agents fired shots during a foot chase with the smuggler who had 
fled in a van they were pursuing. The van contained approximately $1 
million worth of marijuana.
  Compelling physical evidence, the angle of the bullet that struck the 
drug smuggler, makes it clear that the smuggler was pointing something 
at the agents as he ran away, and the agents fired in self-defense. Yet 
the U.S. Attorney's Office prosecuted the agents almost exclusively on 
the testimony of an admitted drug smuggler who claimed he was unarmed.
  The U.S. Attorney's Office prosecuted the agents and granted immunity 
to the drug smuggler for his testimony against our Border Agents. This 
drug smuggler received full medical care in El Paso, Texas; was 
permitted to return Mexico; and is now suing the border patrol for $5 
million for violating his civil rights. He is not an American citizen. 
He is a criminal.
  Since the agents were convicted, three of the 12 jurors have 
submitted sworn statements that they were misled into believing that 
there could be no dissent in the jury's decision and therefore believe 
that they had to give in to the majority opinion of guilt. Still, the 
judge refused to overturn the verdict.
  Mr. Speaker, the extraordinary details surrounding the prosecution of 
this case assure that justice has not been served. The Department of 
Homeland Security Inspector General in this case has outrageously 
claimed that Agents Ramos and Compean admitted they were out to shoot 
Mexicans and confessed to knowingly shooting an unarmed suspect. But 
the Inspector General has failed to make good on his promise to deliver 
documents to Members of Congress to support these claims.
  Nearly 2 years after the conclusion of the agents' trial, the U.S. 
District Court for the Western District of Texas has answered repeated 
requests for transcripts of the trial with nothing but excuses.
  Mr. Speaker, real justice does not fear the truth. For the sake of 
the agents and their families and for the sake of the American people 
who they were working to protect, I encourage the President of the 
United States to review the facts on this case as soon as possible. The 
President alone can immediately reverse this injustice by pardoning 
these two innocent men.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, before I yield back, I want to say to the 
families of Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean that there are 
Members on both sides of the political aisle in this House of 
Representatives that will not sit still until the President pardons 
these two men. They deserve the best of America, not the worst, and God 
bless America.

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