[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 13358]
[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 125th day 
since two U.S. Border Patrol agents entered Federal prison.
  Agents Ramos and Compean were convicted in Federal court for wounding 
a Mexican drug smuggler who brought 743 pounds of marijuana across our 
border into Texas. These agents should have been commended for their 
actions, but instead the U.S. Attorney's Office prosecuted the agents 
and granted full immunity to the drug smuggler. The extraordinary 
details surrounding the prosecution of this case assure that justice 
has not been served.
  In an interview this Friday, May 18, 2007, with Glenn Beck of CNN 
Headline News, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton again repeated a false claim 
about this case, stating that the agent shot ``an unarmed guy in the 
back.'' That is his quote.
  Mr. Speaker, I do not know how anyone, especially this Federal 
prosecutor, would choose to accept the word of a criminal over two law 
enforcement officers who have sworn to uphold the Constitution and to 
protect the American people. Yet this prosecutor believed the word of a 
drug smuggler who claimed he was unarmed. It is a sad day in this 
Nation when a criminal has more influence over a Federal prosecutor 
than two law enforcement officers. I am going to repeat that, Mr. 
Speaker. It is a sad day in this Nation when a criminal has more 
influence over a Federal prosecutor than two law enforcement officers.
  Both agents testified that the drug smuggler turned and pointed an 
object at them while he was running away, and they fired in self-
defense. An Army doctor who removed the bullet fragment from the drug 
smuggler confirmed that the bullet entered into his lower left 
buttocks, passed through his pelvic triangle, and lodged in his right 
thigh, not in the back, as Mr. Sutton has repeatedly claimed. At the 
trial, the Army doctor testified that the drug smuggler's body was 
``bladed'' away from the bullet that struck him, consistent with the 
motion of a left-handed person running away while pointing backward, 
causing the body to twist.
  Mr. Speaker, there is only one logical object that the drug smuggler 
would have pointed at the agents in this circumstance: a firearm.
  In addition to this physical evidence, an article published by the 
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin on October 26, 2006, quotes two of the 
drug smuggler's family members who said, and I quote, ``He has been 
smuggling drugs since he was 14 and would not move drugs unless he had 
a gun on him.'' That is his own family that made a statement.
  The facts have shown what countless citizens and Members of Congress 
already know: That the U.S. Attorneys office was on the wrong side of 
this issue and this case.
  I am pleased and grateful that Chairman Conyers and Chairman Leahy 
have shown interest in holding hearings to investigate the injustice 
committed against these two Border Patrol agents. The conviction of 
these two agents is a travesty that cries out for oversight, and I hope 
that Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle will say thank you 
to Mr. Conyers and also to Chairman Leahy because they are willing to 
look for the truth and justice instead of injustice.
  And I call on the President of the United States to, please, Mr. 
President, look at this case and pardon these two border agents that 
were only trying to protect the American people.

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