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Monday, July 28, 2008
Appeals court upholds convictions against Border Patrol agents.
Sen. John Cornyn on Monday said he was very disappointed that a federal court upheld most of the convictions against two former Border Patrol agents serving long sentences for shooting a Mexican drug dealer and trying to cover it up.
The agents’ case has become a cause celebre on talk radio shows and among groups that advocate tougher border controls. Supporters say that they were wrongly convicted for protecting the United States against a criminal intruder who was also in the United States illegally.
Cornyn on Monday said the case was a “miscarriage of justice” and urged President Bush to act.
“It is incomprehensible to me that an illegal alien drug smuggler was allowed to violate his immunity agreement, perjure himself and be granted a series of unlimited visas to roam free in our country while two Border Patrol agents were given excessive prison sentences,” he said in a statement.
At a Senate hearing last year, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton of the Western District of Texas, staunchly defended his prosecution in the case.
“Some in the media and on the Internet have tried to portray agents Compean and Ramos as heroes, but that narrative is false,” Sutton said. “The actions of Compean and Ramos in shooting an unarmed, fleeing suspect, destroying evidence, and engaging in a cover-up, are serious crimes.”
According to the Associated Press, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld most of the convictions against the agents.
The appeals court vacated their convictions for tampering with an official proceeding, but the three-judge panel refused to reverse the convictions that resulted in their lengthy sentences, the AP said.
Ramos is shown in this picture when he surrendered to federal authorities in 2007.
Read more here.
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Virginia to report foreign-born inmates to fed
Virginia has implemented a little known law that requires all jail officials to notify federal authorities about foreign-born inmates, including legal and illegal immigrants, the Washington Post reported Monday.
The law aims to “make every corner of the state as unwelcoming for illegal immigrants charged with crimes” as the state’s Prince William County, which launched a crackdown on illegal immigrants last year, the paper said.
Read more here.