[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 7670-7671]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 INJUSTICE AGAINST FORMER U.S. BORDER PATROL AGENTS RAMOS AND COMPEAN 
                               CONTINUES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, today is the 69th day 
since a great injustice took place in this country. On January 17, 
2007, two

[[Page 7671]]

U.S. Border Patrol agents entered Federal prison to begin serving 11 
and 12 year sentences, respectively.
  Agents Compean and Ramos were convicted last spring for shooting a 
Mexican drug smuggler who brought 743 pounds of marijuana across our 
border into Texas. These agents never should have been prosecuted. The 
U.S. Attorney's Office prosecuted the agents and granted immunity to 
the drug smuggler, who claimed he was unarmed. The illegal drug 
smuggler received full medical care in El Paso, Texas, was permitted to 
return to Mexico, and is suing the Border Patrol for $5 million for 
violating his civil rights.
  Madam Speaker, he is not an American citizen. He is a criminal.
  Madam Speaker, it is ironic that one of the Federal prosecutors 
dismissed by the Justice Department, who never should have been 
terminated, was criticized for not doing more to try cases of illegal 
immigration. Yet we have a Federal prosecutor in western Texas, Johnny 
Sutton, who, instead of prosecuting an illegal alien, who was also a 
known drug smuggler, decided to give immunity to the illegal alien drug 
smuggler and prosecuted the two Hispanic-American border agents who 
tried to apprehend the smuggler.
  Madam Speaker, this makes absolutely no sense. Johnny Sutton also 
prosecuted another law enforcement agent, Deputy Sheriff Gilmer 
Hernandez. Hernandez was recently sentenced to a year in jail for 
shooting the tires of a car transporting illegal aliens after the 
driver attempted to escape a routine traffic stop by aiming the vehicle 
at the deputy. Hernandez was charged with violating the civil rights of 
one of the passengers, an illegal Mexican national, who was struck in 
the lip by bullet or metal fragments.
  Citizens across this country and many of us in Congress want to know 
why does the U.S. Attorney's Office in western Texas choose to go after 
law enforcement officers while protecting the illegal aliens who commit 
crimes?
  The President has the power to immediately reverse this injustice by 
granting a pardon to these two men, who were doing their jobs to 
protect the American people. But, so far, the President has refused to 
stand up for justice in this case.
  Madam Speaker, I hope the White House will agree with many of us in 
Congress who believe Mr. Sutton's actions in prosecuting these agents 
raises serious questions and need to be investigated.
  I thank House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and his staff for their 
interest in this situation involving the two border agents, who should 
have been commended instead of indicted. I am hopeful that the House, 
under the leadership of John Conyers, will soon hold hearings to look 
into this injustice.

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