Bush Allows Drug Dealers To Walk and Sends Border Agents To Prison
By Dave Gibson (12/23/06)
In less than a month, U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean are scheduled to begin their 11 year and 12 year prison sentences respectively. Their crime?...Chasing and shooting a Mexican drug dealer! Several Congressmen have petitioned President Bush to issue a pardon for these agents. Bush refused, but did pardon more drug dealers.
Earlier this week, Bush granted the traditional end-of-year pardons. Of course, he failed to grant one for Agents Ramos and Compean while seeing fit to grant pardons for several convicted drug dealers and commuting the sentence of another.
In February 2005, U.S. Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean spotted a van headed across the border into the United States. The agents gave chase and wound up in a scuffle with the driver. One agent reported seeing a gun in the driver's hand and fired at him as he fled back into Mexico. The drug dealer the agents chased and shot in the buttocks is named Osbaldo Aldrete-Davilla. Despite his wound, he managed to flee across the Rio Grande and jumped into an awaiting vehicle. The van he drove across the border was carrying 80 pounds of marijuana and 20 pounds of cocaine.
In December 2005, Aldrete-Davilla was caught by Border Patrol Agents as he was once again attempting to smuggle drugs into this country. This time a half-ton of marijuana was found in his vehicle. Incredibly, federal prosecutors granted the Mexican drug smuggler immunity in both cases in exchange for his testimony against Agents Ramos and Compean for the earlier shooting.
The government charged the agents with assault with a deadly weapon, a civil rights violation, and various firearms charges. Last March, they were convicted even though the government's star witness Aldrete-Davilla failed to show up to testify (the drug smuggler's whereabouts are currently unknown).
Federal prosecutors contend that the agents had no right to pursue the fleeing smuggler. At the beginning of the sentencing hearing, U.S. attorney Walter Boyaki even went so far as to implore the judge to be tough enough on the agents so that there was not "the possibility that we put a bull's-eye on every illegal alien and say 'Go get 'em.'"
Less than two weeks ago, 51 U.S. Congressmen penned a letter to President Bush requesting that he pardon Agents Ramos and Compean. Bush's press secretary Tony Snow called the request "nonsensical."
We all know that President Bush will never lift a finger to stop the invasion of illegal aliens into this country. He actually encourages them to come here. We also know that he wants the cheap labor and potential votes they can provide. It is a given that he is worthless in regards to protecting U.S. sovereignty. However, sitting by and watching two veteran Border Patrol Agents go to prison for doing their job while granting pardons to drug dealers is a new low, even for Bush.
Here are the drug dealers who Bush pardoned this week:
-Marie Georgette Ginette Briere of Gatineau, Quebec, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.
-George Thomas Harley of Albuquerque, N.M, aiding and abetting the distribution of cocaine.
-Eric William Olson of Ojai, CA, possession with intent to distribute hashish.
-Phillip Anthony Emmert of Washington, IA, conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine (commutation of sentence).
A few years ago, President Bush granted a pardon to Wendy St. Charles who was convicted in the 1980's of distribution of cocaine. Ms. Charles is an attorney for Denver based MDC Holdings. MDC Chairman Larry Mizel donates heavily to the Republican Party.
It is more than troubling that we currently have a man in the White House who helps put drug dealers back on our streets, while directing Justice Department officials to prosecute law enforcement officers for pursuing drug dealers. It has become evident that Bush truly wants to destroy this nation and expose every U.S. citizen to the dangers posed by a Third World existence.
On January 17, 2007, U.S. Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean will kiss their wives and children goodbye and begin serving their sentences in a federal prison. Drugs will continue to flow across our unprotected border. Our neighborhoods will continue to become more violent as Mexican drug gangs set up shop. Our children will continue to fall victim to drug addiction, and more American citizens will lose their lives to violent Mexican criminals.
Can we survive two more years of the Bush administration?
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