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“THE UNJUST PROSECUTION OF FORMER U.S. BORDER PATROL AGENTS RAMOS AND COMPEAN” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H6548-H6549 on July 15, 2008.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE UNJUST PROSECUTION OF 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, as the Members of the House are aware, in February of 2006, U.S. Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean were convicted of shooting and wounding a Mexican drug smuggler who brought $1 million worth of marijuana across our borders into Texas. The agents were sentenced to 11 and 12 years in prison and now have been in Federal prison, in solitary confinement, for 545 days.
On June 18, 2008, I sent a letter, signed by Congressman Ted Poe, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, Congressman Virgil Goode, Congressmen Louie Gohmert, John Culberson, and Don Manzullo, to ask the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility to investigate the actions of U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton in this case.
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At this point, we have not received the response from the Justice Department. And I only hope they are thoroughly examining the details of this prosecution. One of the main reasons for our request for this investigation stems from the firearm charges used by his office in prosecuting the agents. The charge carried a 10-year minimum sentence. Without this charge, one of the agents, Agent Ramos, would have already completed his sentence and would be out of prison and with his family today.
When you look at the history of why Congress enacted this statute, one reason stands out, to warn criminals to think twice before they put a gun in their pocket on the way to the scene of a crime. The reason for this statute clearly does not apply to law enforcement Officers Ramos and Compean. These men were not carrying guns so they could commit a crime. They were required to carry guns as part of their job.
The real criminal in this case, the Mexican drug smuggler, has since pled guilty to smuggling additional loads of drugs. He is scheduled to face sentencing in Federal Court tomorrow. This is the same drug smuggler who the prosecution portrayed as a one-time offender and gave him free medical care, border-crossing cards and immunity to testify against our border agents.
While the American people won't wait for the Fifth United States Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to render its decision on the agents' appeal, I am hopeful that the House Judiciary Committee will soon hold a hearing to investigate this injustice. I thank Chairman John Conyers and his staff for their interest in investigating this case.
This case deserves a hearing because Ramos and Compean were doing their job to protect our borders. They should never have been prosecuted. During oral arguments for their appeal on December 3, 2007, one of the judges considering the case, Judge E. Grady Jolly said, and I quote the judge, ``It does seem to me that the government overreacted here. For some reason this one got out of hand.''
I want the families of Agents Ramos and Compean to know that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and I will continue to do all we can to see that this miscarriage of justice corrected.
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