[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11555-11556]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           FORMER U.S. BORDER PATROL AGENTS RAMOS AND COMPEAN

  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. Mr. Speaker, today is the 112th day 
since a great injustice took place in this country.
  On January 17, 2007, two United States Border Patrol agents entered 
Federal prison to begin serving 11- and 12-year sentences respectively.
  Agent Compean and Agent Ramos were convicted last spring for wounding 
a Mexican drug smuggler who brought 743 pounds of marijuana across our 
borders into Texas. These agents never should have been prosecuted. 
Yet, the U.S. Attorney's office prosecuted the agents and granted 
immunity to the drug smuggler. The illegal drug smuggler received full 
medical care in El Paso, Texas, was permitted to return to Mexico, and 
has sued the border patrol for $5 million for violating his civil 
rights. And he is not an American citizen.
  The American people have not forgotten Agents Ramos and Compean, who 
should have been commended instead of indicted. I encourage citizens 
across this country to continue calling the White House and ask the 
President to use his authority to immediately pardon these two heroes.
  Members of Congress and the American people are outraged and 
concerned with this administration's indifference to the plight of two 
honorable men who have been crucified unfairly by a Federal prosecutor. 
These two agents have given years of their lives in service to this 
Nation; yet they have been unjustly punished for doing their job to 
protect the American people.
  By using the power of his office to pardon these two agents, the 
President has the opportunity to reverse a grave injustice.
  Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would like to share part of the comments 
made by Chairman John Conyers on the floor last week following my 
remarks on these two border agents, and I quote the chairman: ``It's 
important that the kinds of concerns you have raised are

[[Page 11556]]

known to all of our men and women who carry badges and weapons 
defending us, not just at borders, but in every State in the Union.'' 
Again, that is a quote from Chairman John Conyers.
  I want to thank Chairman Conyers for his interest in this issue, and 
I am encouraged that the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House 
Judiciary Committee will soon move forward with hearings to investigate 
the injustice committed against these two border agents.

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