Southern Border Developments

[Jay]

Guardsmen overrun at the Arizona-Border

Guardsmen overrun at the Border

12 News
Jan. 4, 2007 02:44 PM

video National Guard unit stormed while patroling the border
video Border attack raises security concerns

A U.S. Border Patrol entry Identification Team site was overrun Wednesday night along Arizona's border with Mexico.

According to the Border Patrol, an unknown number of gunmen attacked the site in the state's West Desert Region around 11 p.m. The site is manned by National Guardsmen. Those guardsmen were forced to retreat.
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The Border Patrol will not say whether shots were fired. However, no Guardsmen were injured in the incident.

The Border Patrol says the incident occurred somewhere along the 120 mile section of the border between Nogales and Lukeville. The area is known as a drug corridor. Last year, 124-thousand pounds of illegal drugs were confiscated in this area.

The Border patrol says the attackers quickly retreated back into Mexico.

http://www.azcentral.com/12news/news...ry0104-CR.html

[highsea]

F'in Mexico better get their act together.

[Ray]

This is getting to be a serious affair!

[Jay]

US immigration battle goes below
By David Willis
BBC News, Nogales, Arizona


US-Mexico border tunnel
There are not enough agents to patrol the tunnels constantly
As the United States prepares to fence much of its border, the new battleground for agents chasing illegal immigrants is not above ground but beneath it.

In Arizona officials have found that hundreds of people are tunnelling their way into the country from Mexico.

Some tunnels cannot be sealed because they are vital drainage links, but it is people, not water, that are flowing through them now.

I followed border patrol agent Gus Soto into another world.

One that is dark and dangerous, the new superhighway not only for illegal immigration but also the trafficking of drugs.

The tunnels which run beneath the border town of Nogales were eerily silent apart from the scurrying of rats.

Profitable business

Gus and his men were on the lookout for people traffickers, highly-organised gangs for whom a human cargo is worth more than a cargo of narcotics.

As we made our way walking through a labyrinthine network of passageways, Gus told me that the traffickers, or "coyotes", regularly charge up to $3,000 (£1,500) per person.

With 10 or more people per journey, that amounts to a highly profitable business.

Venturing further into this subterranean world we found clothes strewn around.

Gus told me that before making it to the surface the coyotes often give their clients a fresh wardrobe to help them blend in with their new surroundings.

And not far from the clothes were canvas bags, now discarded but once packed with drugs.

Gus told me the marijuana had probably been passed up to gang members waiting on the street above through one of the scores of exit points emanating from the main tunnels.

Since California and Texas plugged gaps in their borders in the late 1990s this part of Arizona has been the favoured route for illegal immigrants.

The area around Nogales accounts not only for almost half the arrests, but also half the drug seizures made by US border guards nationwide.


Immigrants climb out of the tunnels through manhole covers

A mile from the entrance the tunnel narrowed as we neared the border.

A crudely-drawn yellow line across the ceiling and down the wall was the only indication of the division between Mexico and the United States.

We popped up through a manhole cover a few feet from the official border post.

This is how the coyotes get their charges into the country, waiting until the coast is clear and then shooing their charges through storm drains or manhole covers to the surface.

We had only just left the main tunnel when Gus got called to a second.

A group of migrants had been spotted lurking in the inky blackness.

But as he and his men moved in with their guns drawn the group shrank back to the Mexican side, tantalisingly out of reach.

Immigrants' fears

We met Sonia at her home in Arizona.

She was nine months pregnant when she came through the tunnel and now lives in constant fear of being deported.

She told me she was lucky to have made it through the tunnel alive.

"It was pitch black and the water was up to our knees. The smugglers made us hold hands so we wouldn't fall. It smelt of dead animals and dead people," she said.

Sonia told me that people will continue using the tunnels because the poverty in Mexico is so bad.

"They'll keep coming because there is no choice," she said sadly.

Poverty, it seems, breeds enterprise.

Border agents recently discovered another new tunnel and plan to beef up patrols as a result.

But such is the challenge above ground they have not got the staff to man the tunnels 24 hours a day.

Theirs is a cat and mouse game with the people traffickers. As you close one gap it seems another one opens up.

Such is the allure of a new life in this land of immigrants.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6231365.stm

[Jay]

In a related incident

Tijuana police ordered to disarm

Local police in the northern Mexican border city of Tijuana have been ordered to hand in their guns.

The move is part of an operation by soldiers and federal police to crack down on drug traffickers.

The guns will be inspected by federal officials, who are investigating allegations that some local officers have been involved in drug smuggling.

Police are refusing to patrol unarmed, reports say. Gang violence left more than 300 dead in Tijuana last year.

Entry point

Earlier this week, the government announced it was sending more than 3,000 soldiers and police to the Tijuana to help fight drug trafficking and gang violence.

Interior Minister Francisco Ramirez Acuna said the Tijuana operation would be backed by 28 boats, 21 planes and nine helicopters.

The city, across the border from San Diego in California, is a major entry point for drugs into the US.

This is the second such federal operation ordered by President Felipe Calderon since he took office last month.

In December, federal officials carried out a crackdown in the western state of Michoacan, which is also hard hit by drug-related violence.

Drug gangs are blamed for more than 2,000 deaths in Mexico in 2006.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6234393.stm

[Kassad]

Border Patrol Agents

Anyone read a recent article about the two border patrol agents who are going to jail for defending our borders? I only learned about the case recently, and would like to read up.

Thanks

[Kassad]

Well, seems nobody is too interested. I wrote my congressman. And he or his staff replied. Here's a press release his office forwarded (the formatting was butchered by my copy and paste):

STATEMENT OF UNITED STATES ATTORNEY JOHNNY SUTTON REGARDING THE
CONVICTION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL AGENTS COMPEAN AND RAMOS
In response to misstatements and misinformation being reported in the media regarding the prosecution of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, relating to a shooting that occurred while they were on duty as U.S. Border Patrol agents on February 17, 2005, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas releases this advisory summarizing the evidence presented at defendants’ trial. As will be demonstrated by the summary below, the defendants were prosecuted because they had fired their weapons at a man who had attempted to surrender by holding his open hands in the air, at which time Agent Compean attempted to hit the man with the butt of Compean’s shotgun, causing the man to run in fear of what the agents would do to him next. Although both agents saw that the man was not armed, the agents fired at least 15 rounds at him while he was running away from them, hitting him once.

On February 17, 2005, Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean were on duty along the U.S./Mexico border, working out of the Fabens Border Patrol Station. At approximately one o’clock in the afternoon, Agent Compean observed a van near the border about two and a half miles west of Fabens. According to the testimony, the driver of the van, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, failed to yield to Agent Ramos’ attempt to stop him, jumped out of his vehicle and attempted to run back to Mexico. After Ramos told
Aldrete-Davila to stop, Ramos drew his service revolver and pointed it at Aldrete-Davila. Aldrete-Davila jumped into a steep ditch filled with dirty water and when he tried to climb the steep incline out of the ditch, he was confronted by defendant Compean, waiting for him with a shotgun pointed directly at him. During his testimony, Compean acknowledged that at that time Aldrete-Davila held his hands up, as if to surrender, with his palms open, and no weapon was in either hand, or evident on his person. Another agent, who had arrived by this time and observed the scene, heard someone yell “hit him.” Aldrete-Davila, who was at one time a legal resident alien of the United States and speaks some English, also heard someone yell “hit him, hit him,”
and specifically heard Compean yell: “Parate, parate, Mexicano de mierda.” (“Stop, stop you Mexican ****.”) According to testimony, Compean swung his shotgun around in an attempt to hit Aldrete-Davila with the butt of his weapon, but lost his footing and fell face down into the dirt and brush. Aldrete-Davila began to run to the river and did not look back. Agent Ramos also testified that when he saw Aldrete-Davila in the ditch, he had an opportunity to look at Aldrete-Davila’s hands, which he is trained to do for self defense and defense of another, and did not see any weapons in either of Aldrete-Davila’s hands. When Aldrete-Davila almost reached the river, but while he was still out in the open vega area, he heard numerous gun shots.
Compean fired at Aldrete-Davila at least fourteen times and Ramos fired at Aldrete-Davila once. Aldrete-Davila felt a sting in his left buttock and fell to the ground. When he reached for the location of the pain, his hand came away bloody. Fearing the shooters were about to reach his location and kill him, he turned his head and saw the two defendants holster their weapons, turn away from him and walk back north.

Page 2
Sutton Statement re: Ramos and Compean conviction
August 11, 2006
Page 2
He got up, limped to the river and returned to Mexico where he sought medical attention and learned that the bullet had caused serious inury. The bullet remained lodged in his body, causing him pain and impeding his ability to walk, until extracted by a military physician in the United States. On March 16, 2006, the bullet extracted from Aldrete-Davila’s body was matched to the service weapon carried by defendant Ramos, evidencing that Ramos fired the shot that struck Aldrete-Davila. At the time of the shooting, neither agent Compean nor agent Ramos knew that the van driven by Aldrete-Davila contained 743 pounds of marijuana. The evidence was un-controverted that, at the time the victim was shot, neither agent knew whether the driver was illegally in the United States or whether a crime had been committed. The only information they had was that the driver had failed to pull over to be identified.
According to the testimony of seven other Border Patrol agents who arrived at the scene of the incident after the shooting, neither Compean nor Ramos mentioned that the driver who absconded had a gun, or that any agent’s life was in danger. Defendant Compean repeatedly denied that he had been injured by the driver and refused the supervisor’s offer to file a Report of Assault on his behalf.

At the scene, Ramos told a supervisor that as the suspect fled from the vehicle, agent Compean was on
the levee attempting to apprehend him. Defendant Ramos said that as the suspect tried to flee Compean
either tried to grab the suspect, or did a “side to side” movement, but fell to the ground and got dirt in his
eyes. Ramos did not mention the shooting, and said nothing about the suspect having a weapon. At the
scene, when asked why he was so excited, Ramos told another agent that it was just the adrenalin that had him
all pumped up.
An agent who encountered defendant Compean sometime later, away from the scene of the incident,
testified that Compean told him, “That little ***** took me to the ground and threw dirt in my face.” Compean
did not indicate that he felt threatened, that his life was in danger, or that the driver had a weapon at any time.
Compean did show the agent nine shell casings that he had collected at the scene and indicated he was
“probably missing five more casings.” Compean told the agent he had “fired some rounds...did a magazine
exchange and fired some more rounds,” and asked the agent to look for the additional casings. The agent
proceeded to the scene of the shooting, located the additional five casings, threw them into the drainage ditch
and called defendant Compean, using his cellular telephone, to tell him he had found five rounds and threw
them away. The removal of the shell casings from the scene made it impossible to do a complete
investigation of the shooting.
According to written Border Patrol policy, an agent who discharges his firearm at anytime, including
off duty or by accident, must report the discharge to a supervisor within one hour. Both defendants Compean
and Ramos had attended firearms refresher training which includes a review of this policy the day before the
incident. Border Patrol policy also requires that the scene of a shooting be preserved so that the Sector
Evidence Team may examine the evidence and file a written report detailing their findings so that a
determination can be made of whether the discharge was justified. Evidence presented at trial indicated that,
in the entire time of the defendants’ employment as Border Patrol agents, every reported shooting had been
ruled justified and no agent was disciplined as a result of a shooting. Defendant Ramos is a trained member
of the Sector Evidence Team and a firearms instructor who teaches the discharge policy.
– more –
Page 3
Sutton Statement re: Ramos and Compean conviction
August 11, 2006
Page 3
Testimony elicited at trial clearly established that, until an investigation initiated at the Washington,
D.C. headquarters of the Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General began on March
4, 2005, no written report had been filed, no oral report had been made, and no person in any official capacity
was cognizant of the fact that a shooting had occurred or a firearm had been discharged by any Border Patrol
Agent in the direction of an individual fleeing into Mexico after having failed to stop for immigration status
identification on February 17, 2005. The only report of any law enforcement activity on file for the Fabens
Border Patrol Station on that date was an Immigration and Naturalization form I-44, Report of Apprehension
or Seizure, authored by both defendants and signed by Jose Alonso Compean. The very brief report stated
that after the driver of the van failed to pull over for an immigration check: “The driver of the van began
driving back south towards Mexico. The driver was able to abscond into Mexico.” The report, admitted into
evidence, then indicated that immediately after the driver absconded, defendant Ramos spotted the bags of
marijuana in the van. No written report exists that indicates that defendant Compean was assaulted by the
driver, tussled with the driver, was threatened by the driver’s actions or thought the driver had a gun. Both
supervisors who arrived at the scene, after the incident was over, repeatedly asked defendant Compean if he
was assaulted or injured and if he wished for them to file a Report of Assault-Service Employees, which is
routinely completed if an agent reports being assaulted by a suspect. Compean did not wish such a report to
be filed.
This office did not prosecute the defendants because they had violated Border Patrol policies. They
were prosecuted because they had fired their weapons at a man who had attempted to surrender, but, while his
open hands were held in the air, Agent Compean attempted to hit the man with the butt of his shotgun. In fear
of what the agents would do to him next, the man ran away from the agents, who then fired at least 15 rounds
at him, although they had seen his open hands and knew that he was not holding a weapon and had no reason
to think that he had a weapon, hitting him once causing serious bodily injury. The references to policies are
made only to demonstrate that had the defendants believed that the shooting was justified, there was no reason
for them to conceal it from supervisors and remove evidence from the scene. The laws of the United States
make it a crime for law enforcement officers to use excessive force in apprehending suspects. It is a violation
of any person’s Constitutional rights to shoot at them after they have attempted to surrender, knowing that
they are unarmed and pose no danger to the officers or anyone else.
At the initiation of their investigation, the DHS Office of Inspector General contacted Aldrete-Davila
who was at the time in Mexico. Aldrete-Davila was at first reluctant to cooperate with the investigation
because he feared that should he return to the United States, he could be prosecuted for the offenses
committed in relation to the load of marijuana he was driving on February 17, 2005. In order to secure his
cooperation and appearance at trial in the United States, this office agreed that in return for his truthful
testimony he would not be prosecuted for the February 17, 2005 offenses. The agreement does not immunize
any other conduct.
Based on all of the evidence admitted at the two week trial, including the lengthy testimony of both of
the defendants, the jury of twelve citizens heard all of the testimony, judged the demeanor and credibility of
the witnesses and unanimously found both defendants guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of eleven of the
twelve counts alleged in the indictment, including assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with serious
bodily injury, discharge of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence and wilfully violating
Aldrete-Davila’s Constitutional, Fourth Amendment right to be free from illegal seizure, as well as
obstructing justice by intentionally defacing the crime scene, lying about the incident, and failing to report the truth.

[ChrisF202]

Nothing new here; just another case of the brass sticking their head in the word that rhymes with brass and refusing to support the lower ranking officers. Happens in every law enforcement agency when an officer is accused of brutality the higher ranking officers bow down to the media, Jesse Jackass, Al Sharpton, etc.

Look at how quick NYC Mayor Bloomberg was to bash the NYPD after the shooting of Sean Bell; I mean nobody even knew the facts yet and bam he was bashing them left and right.

[Julie]

Update:

President Bush Would Consider Pardoning Border Agents Convicted of Shooting Drug Runner

Thursday, January 18, 2007

WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush left open the possibility of a pardon for two U.S. Border Patrol agents serving federal prison sentences for shooting a Mexican drug dealer as he fled and covering up the crime.

Bush said "there's a process for pardons" and the case has to work its way through the system. In an interview with KFOX-TV in El Paso, Texas, Bush said the White House will review the case, and he urged people to "take a sober look at the case."

"People need to take a tough look at the facts, the evidence a jury looked at, as well as the judge. And I will do the same thing," he said.

Several lawmakers have urged the president to pardon former Border Patrol agents Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos for the shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, who retreated to Mexico after he was shot and later admitted he was transporting marijuana while in the U.S. illegally.

The agents began serving their sentences Wednesday — 11 years and one day for Ramos and 12 years for Compean. Both were fired after their convictions on several charges, including assault with a deadly weapon, obstruction of justice, and a civil rights violation.

Rancor over the convictions and sentencing of the agents has been simmering for months, and the two have become a cause celebre among conservatives and on talk shows. Their supporters have said they were defending themselves and have called them heroes. The agents' prosecution occurred as the issue of illegal immigration was being debated in Congress and amid campaigns for last November's midterm elections.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican, introduced a bill Thursday calling for a congressional pardon of the agents. Congress has never issued pardons to anyone convicted of a crime, said Joe Kasper, Hunter's spokesman. But Kasper said Hunter believes there is enough ambiguity in the law on pardons to give it a try.

"Agents Compean and Ramos fulfilled their responsibilities as Border Patrol agents and rightfully pursued a suspected and fleeing drug smuggler. It is irresponsible to punish them with jail time," he said in a news release.

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton took the unusual step of issuing a five-page document of the "myth vs. reality" of the case as the agents began serving their sentences.

The document covered everything from the claims that the former agents were just doing their jobs to reports that the shooting was at night when it actually happened about 1 p.m. on Feb. 17, 2005.

White House spokesman Tony Snow also seemed to support the agents' conviction, listing details of the case in a briefing with reporters Thursday. He said an officer hit Aldrete in the chest with a gun after he got out of his car and that "a lot of the allegations about a scuffle and discovering drugs at the scene and all that, they're simply not supported by the fact record of the case."

Texas Sen. John Cornyn said the Justice Department should have the chance to explain why the agents were prosecuted. Cornyn sent a letter to Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, asking for a hearing.

"I understand that the Justice Department believes all the facts have not come out on this prosecution and would welcome the opportunity to explain its decisions. I believe such a public explanation and opportunity for questioning is necessary," Cornyn wrote.

Cornyn said he and Sen. Arlen Specter, who chaired the committee last year, investigated the case and that his office personally interviewed Sutton.

FOXNews.com - President Bush Would Consider Pardoning Border Agents Convicted of Shooting Drug Runner - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum

[texasjohn]

I'm glad Bush is considering pardoning the agents. He should.

But let's ask ourselves this.

Are we going to let our very own borders be undermanned and unguarded? What happened with the fence? or the National Guard? Has all of this been implemented yet? If not, why not?

We are fighting a war on terror are we not?

If we cannot secure our very own borders, what then are we hoping to eliminate?

I'm sorry, I had to vent!

[bonehead]

We should ALL be venting. This festering problem has been the failure of several past administrations and something has to be done about it. I would also like a law on the books saying that drug smugglers, or armed tresspassers have no rights when caught crossing the border. Our border agents are supposed to be there to protect our border, not to count the drugs and illegals pouring across.

[Lunatock]

Border Agents headed to prison for doing their jobs

1/29/2007

Two U.S. Border Patrol Agents have been sentenced to a
decade long prison terms for apprehending an illegal
alien at our border!

Almost as outrageous is that the illegal alien drug
smuggler, who was given immunity for testifying against
the agents is now suing the U.S. for $5 million, claiming
he was permanently injured!

I have just signed a petition calling for the President
to pardon these two Border Agents and I知 asking you to
join with me by clicking here for the full story and the petition:

GrassFire.org - Real Impact Online.

[omon]

never in my life i thought something like this could happen in usa.
i really hope they will be pardoned.
hope my petition will help.

[Kassad]

I wrote my congressman about this, and his office replied. If you're curious you can read the reply in the following thread:

http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/uni...ol-agents.html

[highsea]

I don't know who to be more pissed at; the smuggler, the agents, or the US Atty. who granted immunity to the smuggler.

But the agents shot the guy in the ass and left him to die in the desert. Had they done their jobs, and apprehended the guy, he would have gone to prison for the truckload of drugs he was bringing in to the US.

The agents were lousy shots, btw. ~15 shots and one hit, IIRC.

Idiots.