American Freedom Riders - Pictures From Cochise Countiy

This weeks Guard The Borders Blogburst is not being posted, however in its place is a very interesting and thought provoking visual aid in the way of a slide show from American Freedom Riders.



The slide show consists of pictures taken in Cochise county Arizona.

The pictures reveal an on the ground view of what illegal immigration means to citizens of the United States of America that live with the issue day in and day out; while we all talk about it.

The VIDEO IS HERE.

DeMediacratic Nation Blogrolls

Guard The Borders Blogburst

[Editor's Note: This article is reprinted with permission from American Freedom Riders.]

A Pattern of Malicious Prosecution by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton

by American Freedom Riders

Written by his own hand, former U.S. Border Patrol Agent Gary Brugman tells how, in the performance of his duty, he was falsely charged and convicted of violating the civil rights of an alien caught entering the U.S. illegally at the Mexican border. This case, along with the cases of Ramos and Compean, Hernandez, Sipe, and who knows how many more, serves as proof of the agenda of malicious prosecution by Johnny Sutton against law enforcement officers who dare to uphold our immigration laws. (Sutton bio - Note the joined-at-the-hip relationship with George W. Bush)

Once again, as in the Ramos and Compean case, Sutton worked in concert with the Mexican Consulate to locate a deported Mexican national and payed his way back to the United States many months later to testify against a Border Patrol agent on false assault charges. A Mexican national who had registered no previous complaint against Agent Brugman. What incentive was he given? Who knows. It is known that a member of his family subsequently received chemotherapy treatment in the U.S. In a post trial interview, Johnny Sutton went so far as to thank the Mexican Consulate for cooperation in locating the deported alien. (DOJ Press Release)

A scandalous, but creative twist to this prosecution was that the Sutton gang also brought a convicted and incarcerated drug smuggler from his prison cell to testify against Agent Brugman. A drug smuggler who Agent Burgman himself had captured six weeks after the incident for which he was being prosecuted. Once again, there had been no previous accusation of any civil rights violation. Now however, the convicted drug smuggler conveniently offered supporting testimony to the prosecution's false accusation that Gary Brugman was a rogue agent and a criminal. The false and vengeful testimony of this convicted drug smuggler should never have been allowed by the judge.

No one would listen to Gary Brugman several years ago and he spent two years in the general population at federal prisons wearing newspapers and magazines taped to his body as hopeful protection against inmate attacks. In view of what has recently been disclosed about Johnny Sutton's malicious tactics, his story will be viewed with great interest now. Gary lost everything and his life was ruined but he survived his sentence and is now a free man again. Gary Brugman remains a patriotic American and tells his story now only in an effort to help Ignacio Ramos, Jose Compean, and Gilmer Hernandez prove their innocence against the power, influence, and treachery of the U.S. Attorney and George Bush water boy, Johnny Sutton.

Note: Gary has been a Harley rider for twenty years and on February 18, 2007 he rode with the American Freedom Riders and joined the families of Ramos, Compean, and Hernandez in El Paso, Texas to protest the conviction of the "Texas Three". He is an honorable man and we are proud to call him our brother.

Read "My Story", by Gary Brugman 2-20-07, now...

---

This has been a production of the Guard the Borders syndicate. It was started by Euphoric Reality to educate the public about the vulnerabilities of our open borders during an age of global terrorism and the resultant threat to our national security and sovereignty. If you are concerned about the lapses in our national security and the socio-economic burden of unchecked illegal immigration, join our blog syndicate. Send an email with your blog name and url to admin at guardtheborders dot com.

DeMediacratic Nation Blogrolls

Guard The Borders Blogburst - Sutton Withheld Exculpatory Evidence In Border Patrol Trial

Sutton Withheld Exculpatory Evidence In Border Patrol Trial
By Darnell McGavock of Independent Conservative

As far as major finds in how badly the case of former US Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean was not only messed up, but intentionally tipped towards their conviction, legal experts say this is the biggest! The defense says that a document from the Department of Homeland Security confirms that two supervisors were on the scene the day an illegal immigrant drug smuggler claims he was shot in the butt. The defense is just finding out about this document, that US Attorney Johnny Sutton’s office had and did not reveal to them during the trial. This was all reported on CNN show Lou Dobbs Tonight last night. I’ve YouTubed the video and you can watch it below.

Why did Sutton’s office withhold exculpatory information?

Ramos and Compean said they never filed a report because supervisors were there. Sutton claimed otherwise in court. Their version of the story has now been verified and once again we see another obvious lie from the mouth of Johnny Sutton.

Jeffrey Toobin, CNN Senior Legal Analyst says this news is potentially major, as opposed to other news he does not feel is as impacting to changing the outcome of the case. Toobin says this moves things into a “new category” that may cause a new trial. Lou Dobbs says that Johnny Sutton “lied” when he said he had no choice but to offer immunity. And World Net Daily has found more information about illegal alien drug smuggler Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila still running dope into our country, after being given medical treatment at US taxpayer expense. This offense was gagged by the judge and the family of Ramos and Compean still refuse to even talk about it, for fear that Johnny Sutton will come after them.

We need and I mean NEED a full Congressional investigation of this entire case right now. We also need to know who in our government knew what, when and what orders they gave to Johnny Sutton and/or the judge. We need to know every single detail related to President George W. Bush involving this matter. It’s time to stop reading and start writing your congresspeople. We now have more than enough information to not simply be suspicious about this case, we know these men were setup!

DeMediacratic Nation Blogrolls

Guard the Borders Blogburst

By Heidi Thiess of Euphoric Reality

Mexico.

That's who.

Yes, you read that right. The latest information has uncovered the undue political pressure that Mexico put on our government, and how the White House easily caved. They didn't even ask questions it seems. Here's what happened:

After Aldrete-Davila was shot, he complained to someone who brought the "crime" to light (not his mommy, as Sutton has previously told us). That person contacted the Mexican government, which is currently in overdrive trying to portray a situation wherein the poor downtrodden people of Mexico are being brutally shot by cruel, evil Americans at the border - when all they want is a better life for their families. Wah. The Mexican government, seeing a golden opportunity to bring some pressure to bear upon the big, mean U.S. Border Patrol, immediately mobilized their diplomats to exert pressure on the American Consulate in Mexico City. The Consulate, in turn, contacted the State Department, who then informed the President. With me so far?

Bush then called in the Department of Justice and his old Texas buddy, the Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales. Alberto Gonzales called in his hired gun, Johnny Sutton, who then crafted a prosecution virtually from thin air. Sutton's agenda was furthered immeasurably by Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Kanof, who has previously shown no compunction about fabricating fraudulent cases, lying and suborning testimony in her cases, and manipulating the media. Kanof has played an integral part in undermining the integrity and fairness of the criminal proceedings in multiple cases, the most prominent being the Border Patrol case. And she has done so with impunity, under the direction of Johnny Sutton.

We were lied to (surprise, surprise) when we were told that the only reason this case came to light is because DHS uncovered evidence that Ramos and Compean tried to "cover up" their "crime". That, as we now know, is a lie. What really happened is that the White House is kowtowing to political pressure from Mexico, no doubt aided by Bush's own personal agenda to erase the border. This rotten, trumped-up case against Ramos and Compean goes all the way to highest levels of our American government. Donald Collins ventures to say that this case has all the potential of Watergateto bring down this Administration. I agree.

Why would there be pressure from Mexico to prosecute two distinguished Border Patrol agents long after they had tried to apprehend a fleeing drug dealer—whom they shot and wounded but who escaped, leaving his drug swag behind?

This story is just breaking and will doubtless be subject to amplification. But—

“In an interview with Grassfire.org's Steve Elliott (see audio above, transcript below), Corsi explained that no action was taken for days following the incident at the border. In fact the agents' actions were considered ‘normal’ and the reporting ‘acceptable’ until Mexico intervened. Says Corsi, ‘Then on March 4, 2005 the request came through from the Mexican Consulate to the U.S. consulate in Mexico demanding an investigation on the basis that the Mexican Consulate was bringing forth Davila and wanted the agents to be punished.’ [ Mexican Government Involved In Initiation Of Prosecution Of Agents Ramos And Compean]

Could this be another example of the Committee to Re-Elect the President? Remember how then Attorney General John Mitchell used the money raised by this committee as hush money for the burglars? The famous duo of Woodward and Bernstein then “followed the money” to bring down a Presidency!

What Corsi is saying suggests the same thing. Follow the money–the big money which big business has paid to keep our borders open--because the apparent motivation for this outrageous prosecution of these two Border Patrol agents is to intimidate all our Border Patrol agents from apprehending these illegal crossers. Obviously, Bush wants an open border, as does Mexico. [See Mexico demanded U.S. prosecute sheriff, agents| Documents show role of consulate in cases of Gilmer Hernandez and Ramos-Compean, WorldNetDaily.com, By Jerome R. Corsi, February 13, 2007]

Meanwhile, the mysteriously unavailable transcripts are starting to come out. The official transcripts are here, and LoneWacko has wisely cached them, in case they mysteriously go "missing". Lou Dobbs' staff, of CNN, has begun the arduous task of sifting through 3000 pages of documents, and it's becoming very clear why the prosecution, together with a complicit court-room judge, have worked so long and hard to suppress these transcripts:

The nearly 3,000 pages of transcripts in the Ramos and Compean case show that even before the trial started, several key rulings went against the Border Patrol agents. For example, defense attorneys wanted to be able to talk about how dangerous the border region is where the agents encountered the illegal alien drug smuggler. It’s an area, of course, with a well-documented history of violent confrontations between drug cartels and law enforcement.

But prosecutors objected to that. And the judge agreed. She ordered defense attorneys to refrain from any mention of what she called the alleged dangerousness of the border between the United States and Mexico.

Another passage shows just how eager prosecutors were to grant immunity to Mexican drug smuggler Oscar Aldrete-Davila and throw the book at the Border Patrol agents. Assistant U.S. attorney Debra Kanof said to the judge, “… we basically had to beg him. He didn’t want to come and talk to us about this. And so we basically gave him blanket immunity for any drug or immigration crime that he might have been committing on that day.”

Agent Compean’s defense attorney pointed out how the government could have sought up to 40 years in prison for the drug smuggler. And an attorney for Agent Ramos said the drug smuggler “could be prosecuted for possession of some 700 pounds of marijuana, for smuggling it into the country, for illegally entering the United States. All of these actions are actions which the government apparently has chosen to forgive in order to obtain his testimony against these defendants, the agents.”

In fact, prosecutors sought to prevent defense attorneys from even disclosing that Aldrete-Davila was transporting 750 pounds of marijuana when he encountered the Border Patrol agents. The judge did allow those facts into evidence, but only on a limited basis.

Also, if case this case doesn't make you sick enough, go read about one of Johnny Sutton's other victims.

I asked the other day, who was paying Johnny Sutton to set-up our law enforcement officers in total crap cases? I thought maybe the drug cartels were paying him off, or maybe the Mexican government, since they're always meddling in our national affairs. I knew this case smelled bad, but the stench of corruption goes all the way up to the White House. When I started covering this case back in August, I never dreamed the Bush administration was behind it all, driving the corruption in West Texas courts, where dirty attorneys collude with the worst criminal element in Mexico to attack American citizens! This is a betrayal of the worst kind.

---

This has been a production of the Guard the Borders syndicate. It was started by Euphoric Reality to educate the public about the vulnerabilities of our open borders during an age of global terrorism and the resultant threat to our national security and sovereignty. If you are concerned about the lapses in our national security and the socio-economic burden of unchecked illegal immigration, join our blog syndicate. Send an email with your blog name and url to admin at guardtheborders dot com.

DeMediacratic Nation Blogrolls

Guard the Borders Blogburst

By Heidi Thiess


We are still closely watching the Border Patrol case, especially after last week's explosive news that the DHS had lied to Congressmen who were looking into the case. Close on the heels of that shocking revelation, we noted that US Attorney Johnny Sutton, the prosecutor in this case, has lied openly and repeatedly about this case to the media. In an effort to counter Sutton's lies, here is one of his favorite public statements about Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean deconstructed:

"These guys did very serious crimes and once anybody who knows all the facts of this case — the fact that they shot at an unarmed guy 15 times, lied about it, covered it up, destroyed the evidence ... it's hard for me to imagine a prosecutor would look the other way," he said

1. It has not been proven that the drug smuggler was unarmed. Sutton has been unable to prove it, yet he states it like it's a fact. Furthermore, two of the drug smuggler's own family members have made statements that he has been running drugs since he was 13 or 14 and has never smuggled drugs without being armed.

2. Compean and Ramos DID NOT LIE about shooting the drug smuggler. They didn't know that they had until almost a month later! And it's still not proven that Ramos is the one who shot the drug smuggler.

3. The DID NOT try to "cover it up". They verbally reported to their superiors that they fired their weapons.

4. They DID NOT destroy evidence. Sutton has been harping on this because he claims that the site of the shooting was a "crime scene" and that the BP agents knowingly altered the scene of the crime by picking up their shell casings. That is FALSE. The agents, including the agents that were with them at the time of the shooting, did NOT designate the area a crime scene, since they did NOT know that the drug smuggler had been shot.

5. In fact, far from lying about the incident or "covering it up", Ramos and Compean followed procedures exactly:

U.S. Border Patrol firearms policy specifically states that agents are prohibited from filing a report if a shooting incident takes place and that only an oral report to supervisors is required.

"Ensure that supervisory personnel or INS investigating officers are aware that employees involved in a shooting incident shall not be required or allowed to submit a written statement of the circumstances surrounding the incident," according to the firearms policy. "All written statements regarding the incident shall be prepared by the local INS investigating officers and shall be based upon an interview of the INS employee."

INS refers to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which oversaw the Border Patrol prior to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. The shooting policy has remained unchanged.

Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General documents obtained by the paper show that all nine agents on the scene at the time of the shooting - including two supervisors - knew shots had been fired.

Oscar Garcia, El Paso Border Patrol Union representative with Local 1929 and a firearms instructor, said that the Report of Apprehension or Seizure filed by Compean and Ramos on the day of the incident was accurate. Garcia stated that the agent's omission of the shooting in the drug seizure report followed firearms policy.

"Our own policy prohibits them from filing any report on the shooting incident," Garcia said. "The U.S. Attorney's assertion that they covered up the incident by not filing a report is ridiculous."

6. On Saturday, it was further revealed that two of the Border Patrol agents that had testified on behalf of the prosecution against Ramos and Compean also lied in their testimony during the trial.

Two Border Patrol agents who testified against two co-workers convicted of shooting a drug smuggler will be fired for changing their stories about events surrounding the shooting, according to documents obtained by the Daily Bulletin.

Sources inside the Border Patrol also say Oscar Juarez, a third agent who testified against Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, resigned from the agency last month shortly before he was to be fired.

All three agents gave sworn testimony against Ramos and Compean for the U.S. Attorney's Office, which successfully prosecuted the shooting case in March. The agents were given immunity in exchange for their testimony despite changing their accounts of the incident several

"When you give deals to witnesses like immunity, the government usually gets the testimony (it wants)," said Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, a former judge and prosecutor. "This case is a perfect example."

What else is Johnny Sutton up to, besides being a bald-faced liar and coercing others to lie? As we've already reported in our previous coverage, he's an over-zealous prosecutor of American law enforcement officers who are doing their best to protect America and themselves from coyotes, drug smugglers, and the other criminals turning our borders into a war zone. Ramos and Compean are not Sutton's only victims:

A Texas deputy sheriff who fired shots at a fleeing vehicle after the driver tried to run him down faces 10 years in prison for injuring one of the passengers, a Mexican national being smuggled illegally into the United States.

The U.S. attorney, who won lengthy prison terms last year for two U.S. Border Patrol agents in the shooting of a drug-smuggling suspect, also prosecuted Edwards County Deputy Sheriff Guillermo F. Hernandez, who is to be sentenced next month.

The deputy's boss, Sheriff Donald G. Letsinger, said his officer -- who had been on the job for a year -- "followed the letter of the law" in defending himself in the April 2005 incident and questioned why the government brought charges.

"This is a fine young man, and I just don't believe he committed the wrong of which he was accused," Sheriff Letsinger said. "I have never had anything hurt me so badly as this prosecution. We've got to make this right."

Rep. Ted Poe, Texas Republican, called the prosecution and conviction of Hernandez, known to his friends as "Gilmer," "another example of how the federal government is more concerned about people [who are] illegally invading America than it is about the men who protect America."

"Once again, our government is on the wrong side of the border war," Mr. Poe said.

The deputy's Dec. 1 conviction has enraged his hometown of Rocksprings, Texas, population 1,250, where "Free Gilmer" signs have been posted. The Baptist church is paying the deputy's mortgage and others have come up with costs for the family's truck, propane and water bills. Hernandez, 25, and his wife, Ashley, have a 4-month-old daughter.

"The town is outraged that this has happened to our deputy," said the Rev. Albert Green, pastor at the First Baptist Church. "Those people were in this country illegally, and they tried to run him down. They were the criminals, but the prosecutors made our deputy out to be the criminal."

"I do not know a single person who doesn't feel Gilmer was prosecuted for doing his job," said Mr. Green, who is the deputy's pastor. "I do not know a finer, more well-behaved gentleman. He would not purposely or willfully hurt anyone."

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, appointed in October 2001 by President Bush, said Hernandez fired shots at the vehicle as it sped away "knowing it was occupied with the nine individuals," at least seven of whom were illegal aliens -- some of whom later were called to testify for the government.

Hernandez was convicted after a jury trial in U.S. District Court in Del Rio, Texas, 75 miles southwest of Rocksprings -- found guilty of violating "under the color of law" the civil rights of Maricela Rodriguez-Garcia, a Mexican national.

Furthermore, those same illegals LIED about Hernandez shooting at them after they crashed their vehicle and fled on foot:

Sheriff Letsinger also said the Rangers and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents, using dogs and metal detectors, found four shell casings at the traffic stop site but none at the crash site -- discounting claims by two of the vehicle's occupants that Hernandez fired shots at them as they fled the vehicle.

Nevertheless, Sutton treated the testimony of illegals already proven to be liars as inviolable, while painting Hernandez as a "rogue cop" (sound familiar?) and has imprisoned Hernandez for doing his job. But it doesn't stop there. Sutton has a very dirty track record. In 2004, in an effort to protect one of his star witnesses - a Mexican informant - he covered up the informant's participation in 15 tortures and murders at the "House of Death" in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

Apparently, no crime is too vile for Sutton when it comes to protecting his informants. Just as he protected the notorious drug smuggler Aldrete-Davila and provided whim with taxpayer funded benefits such as a vehicle and a green card, so he has previously protected and paid off an informant that he KNOWS is a mass murderer. In fact, Sutton's office has gone to great lengths to conceal the heinous crimes of their informant and have moved him frequently to keep him away from other American law enforcement agencies, such as the DEA. Furthermore, Sutton has been involved in making huge payments in "hush money" to this informant - over $50,000 - which was disguised as a payment to a different informant who was already dead. Now Sutton has gone to his high-level contacts inside the Department of Justice (I've previously revealed his insider connections with Alberto Gonzales and George Bush) in order to shut down a DEA officer who is brought serious charges against Sutton for his complicity in covering up torture and murder.

Several sources within the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of ICE, confirmed that the informant Lalo was moved around frequently after DEA was forced to evacuate its agents from Juarez and the full extent of his – and the ICE agents’ and U.S. prosecutor’s – complicity in the murders became known to DEA.

“They (the ICE agents and U.S. prosecutor Juanita Fielden) couldn’t get rid of him (Lalo), so they tried to control him, and they moved him from place to place, to Albuquerque (N.M.) then to San Antonio (Texas), so no one could talk to him,” one source says.

Then, the first hints of the informant’s role in the murders in Juárez hit the media in the spring of 2004, and the cover-up went into full swing, according to sources. The problem is that the informant Lalo had leverage because of what he knew. He was demanding more money, sources indicate.

That’s what allegedly led one of Lalo’s ICE handlers, a high-level supervisor in El Paso, sometime between March and June of 2004, to put a payment through to him using a dead informant’s “source number,” which is a number assigned to all confidential sources in order to keep their identity concealed.

Although it is not clear how much money was given to Lalo through this means, sources indicate that it was discovered by someone at ICE headquarters in Washington, D.C. The sources add that because the payment required headquarters’ approval, the amount likely exceeded $50,000.

“The confidential informant (Lalo) said the government owed him money,” one source says. “They decided they better pay him or he would start talking.”

According to law enforcement sources, a high-level ICE supervisor in El Paso allegedly sent out the word to members of his staff that no one was to cooperate with any investigation into the informant’s role in the murders, or they would face discipline. Ironically, that supervisor has since been promoted, sources indicate.

To date, no one directly involved in overseeing the informant has been brought up on criminal charges, at least no such charges have been publicly announced. One field agent has been put on administrative leave, however. Law enforcers familiar with the case believe that Hispanic agent, unless he has documentation to prove otherwise, will likely be the only person set up to take the fall.

Any investigation into U.S. prosecutors in this matter, of course, would have to go through Sutton’s office – absent the appointment of a special prosecutor – or through the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which is under the charge of San Antonio native Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Given those realities, most law enforcers who spoke with Narco News believe that, absent intervention by Congress, nearly everyone involved will get a pass on the House of Death murders.

“If Sandy Gonzalez or I had done something like this, we’d be in prison,” says a former high-ranking DEA official who asked to remain anonymous. “When a U.S. attorney is incompetent, there are no sanctions. You have the Department of Justice that is supposed to control these U.S. Attorneys, but they don’t when it comes down to nut-cutting.”

As for Sandalio Gonzalez, he can’t believe justice is being sacrificed in this case, that some 15 murdered people are deemed expendable for the sake of salvaging careers and promoting political ambitions.

“If someone in Congress is not willing to take a stand on this, the nation as a whole loses some integrity in the process,” he stresses. “This isn’t about national security, spies or intelligence work, this is police work, right here. There are bodies out there.”

All the details of the above case are presented here. There is no crime to vile - not drug smuggling, not torture, and not mass murder - for U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton to overlook in order to further his career. How many lives does he get to destroy with impunity before he's held accountable? U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton is a despicable and incredibly corrupt individual. And because of his long-held and close ties with President George W. Bush, and U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and other high-ranking Texas politicians in D.C., Johnny Sutton gets a free pass for crimes that would put any other American into prison for the rest of their lives! Who is paying Johnny Sutton for his crimes?

---

This has been a production of the Guard the Borders syndicate. It was started by Euphoric Reality to educate the public about the vulnerabilities of our open borders during an age of global terrorism and the resultant threat to our national security and sovereignty. If you are concerned about the lapses in our national security and the socio-economic burden of unchecked illegal immigration, join our blog syndicate. Send an email with your blog name and url to admin at guardtheborders dot com.

Guard the Borders Blogburst - "Dirty Texas Politics: Part Two"

DIRTY TEXAS POLITICS: PART TWO

UPDATES TO THE BORDER PATROL CASE

By Heidi at Euphoric Reality

All audio files pertaining to this Border Patrol update are archived at Euphoric Reality. They are interviews with Congressman Ted Poe and investigative journalist Dr. Jerome Corsi as conducted by Houston & Dallas radio talk show hosts Edd Hendee and Pat Gray for KSEV and KVEC radio.

Quite a lot has been developing over the past two weeks, since GTB published a list of highly suspicious inconsistencies in the prosecution's case against Border Patrol agents Compean and Ramos. Namely, the prosecution's case is unraveling. And none too soon, since both agents have been incarcerated in federal prisons since the first week of January, one in Ohio and the other in Mississippi, far from loved ones.

Before we get into the details of new evidence recently come to light, I need to submit a correction to my previous coverage, and an update.

CORRECTION: First, I cited the irregularity of the court being unable to finish the transcripts for the case in the six months since the trial. (Usually, transcripts are completed within a matter of days.) In fact, it has not been six months since the trial, but six months since the sentencing. It has actually been 11 months since the trial was completed in March of 2006. During that time frame, the court's reason for the unfinished court transcripts has been that "the court transcriptionist has been sick." I submit to you that after 11 months of "illness" - so ill as to make moving one's fingers feebly across a keyboard impossible - someone needs to get that poor transcriptionist a doctor!

UPDATE: I had previously reported that Congressman Michael McCaul, Chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Investigations, had failed to subpoena documents concerning the case, and refused to hold a hearing to review the case, which was within his purview. I noted that Michael McCaul is a former employee of U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton. Since then, McCaul has made public statements in Houston, TX, that under the auspices of his position as Chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Investigations he repeatedly (four times) requested to review the documents concerning the case, and for months, he was stonewalled. He said he trusted his fellow Republicans, including the DHS-IG Richard Skinner and the DHS chief Michael Chertoff when they gave him every assurance that he would be provided with the trial documentation. He admits he made a mistake to trust them, when he sent letters instead of issuing a subpoena.

Unfortunately, now that McCaul is no longer chairman of that committee it is too late. After the Democrats took control in January, he’s been told by Richard Skinner, the Inspector General: “You’re not the chairman anymore. You’re in the minority. You’ll have to get the information through an FOIA request.”

---

Meanwhile, the feds have continued to stonewall a group of concerned U.S. Congressmen who have repeatedly requested the documentation surrounding the case. Below is audio of Congressman Ted Poe, citing the delay tactics and the unprecedented behavior of US Attorney Johnny Sutton. As well, Poe has already submitted an emergency FOIA request.

Poe expressed concern that he is not sure the jury in the Ramos and Compean case got all the information the government had concerning the relevant facts of the case.

"When the government does backroom deals with criminals, like this habitual drug offender from Mexico, the public, and especially the defendants, have an absolute right to know what the deal was and how it came about," he said. "Maybe the jury heard it, and maybe the jury didn't hear it, but we will find out."

Many of the factual aspects of the case are now being disputed by investigators, including the ballistics investigation into the weapons fired and the round subsequently extracted from the left buttocks and right groin of the drug smuggler by a U.S. Army doctor.

"For all we know," Poe commented, "the drug smuggler seemed to be pointing back at the Border Patrol agents with what could have been something in his hand based on the ballistics reports I am seeing. U.S. Attorney (Johnny) Sutton says the guy was shot in the buttocks. Well, now we find out that that isn't exactly accurate. The guy was shot from 'cheek-to-cheek,' or maybe from the side of his left buttocks to his right groin. There's a big difference in those two statements. You don't have to be a ballistics expert to understand that the body was turned if the bullet went from one cheek to the other cheek, or from the left cheek to the right groin."

Poe repeated that his office was determined to get to the bottom of these investigative questions. "In the big scheme of things, let's assume that the Border Patrol agents violated policy. Assume they didn't file a report even though the law says that they were only required to file an oral report to the supervisor," he asked. "There was no requirement in this instance that they file a written report. Okay, let's discipline the Border Patrol agents, you bet. Let's give them three-day's suspension like the rules call for."

Poe questioned the judgment of U.S. Attorney Sutton, asking "why does the federal government here have a choice to prosecute a guy bringing in a million dollars worth of drugs or prosecute Border Patrol agents who were doing their job, yet the government chose to prosecute the Border Patrol? "Why is the federal government spending so many federal taxpayer resources prosecuting federal Border Patrol agents trying to stop drug smugglers, especially when it means making deals with drug offenders?" he continued. "That's the bigger question in my mind."

Poe agreed the prosecution would put a chilling effect on other Border Patrol agents.

"That's a war zone on the Texas-Mexico border," he said. "It's an undeclared war that's taking place. You have aggressive Border Patrol agents like Ramos and Compean, who are protecting the country, and yet they are vilified and prosecuted by our own government. The next time you have a similar situation with a different Border Patrol agent, the Border Patrol agent will hesitate before they put their life or their career in danger."

Poe called the Ramos and Compean case "the best news drug dealers have ever heard."

Additionally, it is noted that White House press secretary Tony Snow has repeatedly dismissed questions surrounding the Border Patrol case and has said several times that if one were to "read the transcripts", one would see that the agents were properly charged and convicted. According to Tony Snow (read The White House), the Border Patrol agents were "the bad guys". However, since then, it has become obvious that Tony Snow has himself not read the court transcripts for one very simple reason - they do not exist! Tony Snow was bluffing!

Furthermore, Tony Snow and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) have both said that the "legal system has worked" in this case, as will the appellate process. That's all well and good, except that the process is broken! Did you know that the defense attorneys cannot file an appeal until they have all the facts of the case in hand? That includes the non-existent court transcripts. The Border Patrol agents, currently incarcerated, are being denied their right to an appeal, because the Western Texas court refuses to complete the court transcripts!

Below I list seven major inconsistencies (in addition to the ones already documented in our previous coverage) in the tainted case U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton crafted against the Border Patrol agents. Dr. Jerome Corsi, the author of Unfit For Command, has done some deep investigative work on this case and has presented his factual findings in a series of articles published by World Net Daily. I understand that some readers typically dismiss WND coverage as being "too conservative", but I challenge anyone to read the findings and try to find holes in Corsi's investigation. I haven't found any yet.

Audio of a local radio interview with Dr. Jerome Corsi is included in an .mp3 file below.

1. Johnny Sutton has claimed over and over, both in public statements and in his infamous fact sheet, that the drug smuggler was unarmed. Sutton has failed to prove that, yet continues to assert it as a fact of the case. It is NOT! Nor is it reasonable to believe a life-long criminal over two law enforcement officers, especially when the criminal is contradicted by statements from his own family, and by the known behavior of smugglers in the area. It is not reasonable.

2. Sutton has claimed that the drug smuggler, Aldrete-Davila, could not be tied to the van full of $1 million worth of dope. He also has said that the BP agents were unable to identify him.

Sutton told WND "there was no way we could prosecute" Aldrete-Davila.

"Ramos and Compean could not identify him," he said. "We found no fingerprints on the van, and he managed to escape, even though he had been shot in the behind by the agents."

Nevertheless, Sutton's office was able to track down Aldrete-Davila in Mexico and convince him to return to the U.S. to testify against Ramos and Compean. The bullet was removed from the smuggler's buttocks by a military physician in the U.S. so it could be introduced as evidence in the agents' trial.

How then, was Sutton able to later locate Aldrete-Davila in Mexico to offer him an immunity deal? If the drug smuggler could not be tied to the crime of smuggling drugs, how then could he be tied to the shooting incident with the BP agents?

3. Sutton claimed in court that BP agent Ramos was guilty of shooting Aldrete-Davila in the buttock. However, the ballistics analysis has been flagged as inconclusive, and contrary to Sutton's statements does not prove that the bullet came from Ramos' weapon.

WND: So, Compean shot 14 times and missed everybody, but Ramos shot one time and hit the drug dealer in the buttocks?

Sutton: That's correct.

WND: Is Ramos that much better a shot than Compean?

Sutton: Ramos is a marksman.

The results of the ballistics tests were reported in a letter written by Joseph J. J. Correa, a Criminalist IV with the Texas DPS El Paso Laboratory, March 18, 2005, and addressed to Brian D. Carter of DHS in El Paso.
The letter states Correa examined one fired copper-jacketed bullet presented to him by Carter on March 17, 2005. The letter identifies the victim shot by the bullet as "Osvaldo Aldrete."

In the letter, Correa notes that he was asked to determine the manufacture of the firearm that fired the submitted bullet.

Correa could not positively identify Ramos's weapon as the one that fired the submitted bullet. His report concludes:

The copper-jacketed bullet was fired from a barrel having six lands and grooves inclined to the right. The manufacturer of the firearm that fired the copper-jacketed bullet is unknown, but could include commonly encountered models of .40 S&W caliber FN/Browning, Beretta, Heckler & Koch, and Ruger pistols.

Despite the impossibility of identifying the weapon the bullet was fired from - it could've been any number of pistols from FOUR major arms manufacturers - DHS agent Christopher Sanchez lied under oath in an affidavit filed by DHS March 15, 2005, with the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Texas. Special agent Christopher R. Sanchez swore the following:
Ballistics testing confirms a government-issued weapon belonging to U.S. Border Patrol Agent Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos, a 96D Beretta .40 caliber automatic pistol, serial number BER067069M, fired a bullet (a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson jacketed hollow point) which hit the victim in the left buttocks while he was attempting to flee to Mexico.

4. Sutton repeatedly has said there was no evidence at the scene that would have permitted his office to investigate, find, and prosecute Aldrete-Davila. He has also repeatedly claimed that no fingerprints were found inside the van. I noted in our previous coverage that that was highly unlikely - even impossible. Now, a DHS memo reveals that eleven fingerprints were found inside the van. The memo also documents that no fingerprint search was conducted on the vehicle until a full month after the Feb. 17, 2005, incident! That indicates no serious effort on Sutton's part to identify the driver of the van (thus identifying the criminal) and as well, highlights egregious mishandling of the chain of evidence.

5. Sutton cannot keep his own lies straight. He has recently stated that a Mexican lawyer brought Aldrete-Davila forward, without revealing the drug smuggler's identity, but would not cooperate until immunity had been granted. However, according to Sutton's own previous statements, Aldrete-Davila was identified by his family and life-long friend BP agent Rene Sanchez.

DHS investigative memos make clear that Border Patrol agent Rene Sanchez in Wilcox, Ariz., identified Aldrete-Davila only days after the Feb. 17, 2005 incident, obtaining his information through family connections. Sanchez grew up with Aldrete-Davila in Mexico.

The information about Aldrete-Davila's identity was then passed on by Sanchez to DHS special agent Christopher Sanchez, who went to Mexico and found Aldrete-Davila.

This Christopher Sanchez is the same DHS special agent the DHS memo on the fingerprints says received the videotape of the El Paso Police Department fingerprint search on the drug smuggler's abandoned vehicle.

6. Sutton has claimed that Compean and Ramos attempted to "cover-up" the fact that they discharged their weapons and has made a big deal out of the fact that they policed their spent shell casings and filed fraudulent paperwork. However, that is not true. There were at least five BP agents on the scene that day, and all of them knew of the shooting. As well, Compean and Ramos made a verbal report to their supervisor. They did not file a written report.

7. The latest reports coming out of West Texas are that the agents actually present during the shooting incident do not match the agents presented by Sutton to the court as witnesses. I will update this allegation further as more information becomes available.

Finally, this week, despite the total lack of a court transcript, some long-awaited incident reports regarding the case were delivered to Congress but have been classified secret from the general public. The Congressional Homeland Security Subcommittee on Management, Investment and Oversight obtained the report after submitting an emergency Freedom of Information Act request for the documents.

Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, said he will not review the classified documents until they are made available to the public. Poe expects a redacted version will be made available.

Lastly, if you are touched by the plight of these agents and would like to do something to help, a labor union, the National Border Patrol Council, is soliciting donations on its website.

All donations that are designated for Agents Ramos and Compean will be used to fund their legal defense and assist their families in their hour of need. Donations to the fund can be made by check payable to 'BPA Legal Defense & Relief Fund.' Checks should be mailed to: BPA Legal Defense & Relief Fund, P.O. Box 47208, Tampa, FL 33647.

---

This has been a production of the Guard the Borders syndicate. It was started by Euphoric Reality to educate the public about the vulnerabilities of our open borders during an age of global terrorism and the resultant threat to our national security and sovereignty. If you are concerned about the lapses in our national security and the socio-economic burden of unchecked illegal immigration, join our blog syndicate. Send an email with your blog name and url to admin at guardtheborders dot com.

Guard the Borders Blogburst

Dirty Texas Politics Taint Border Patrol Agents' Trial

I have to give huge kudos to Shawn Christopher Phillips, of the Wry & Coy Report, for compiling some of the least known and most misreported facts surrounding the case of the two Border Patrol Agents prosecuted for shooting a drug smuggler. Shawn has raised some very troubling questions surrounding the case - questions worth asking and investigating. He has also connected the dots in a way that the media has been unable (or unwilling) to do.

Shawn's original research material can be found at www.patgray.com here and here. I have supplemented the accounts with further information from my own research and from Pat Gray's radio show on KSEV, since he and his co-host, Edd Hendee have been investigating the anomalies surrounding this very muddled case.

I have taken the liberty of condensing Shawn's material from several posts to place it into a rough timeline of events as they occurred. As well, I wanted to include information about some of the major players in this case, from the drug smuggler himself all the way up to U.S. Congressmen and Senators.

The central perpetrator in this travesty of justice is the U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, who has old boy Texas connections from the judge overseeing the case all the way up to President George W. Bush. These connections, though not openly disclosed, have greatly impacted the case, as highly placed government officials look the other way while testimonies, evidence, and statements are manipulated behind the scenes.

By Shawn Christopher Phillips

Edited and Supplemented by Heidi Thiess for syndication by the Guard the Borders Coalition.

Did US Border Patrol Agents, Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos actually shoot Mexican national, career drug smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila?

That is what we have been told, that's what has been reported, that is what the trial was about, and that is what Compean and Ramos are in federal prison for right now.

Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila... drug smuggler

Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila is a Mexican national, career drug smuggler. On February 17th, 2005, U.S. Border Patrol Agents Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos shot Aldrete-Davila once in the buttocks saying that they thought the suspect was armed. This claim has been supported by two of Aldrete-Davila's family members, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. They stated that Aldrete-Davila had been dealing drugs since age 14 and, according to one, he “wouldn't move drugs unless he had a gun on him.”

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton responded, “There's this impression that all these dopers carry guns,” but mules - smugglers such as Aldrete-Davila - "almost never carry guns," because federal law "tacks on five years to their sentence. In this one statement, US Attorney Johnny Sutton admits to knowing that Aldrete-Davila is “doper” and a “[drug] mule smuggler”.

An Office of Inspector General memorandum contradicts US Attorney Sutton's claim that Ramos and Compean reported Aldrete-Davila was unarmed.

The memorandum of activity was written April 4th, 2005, by Christopher Sanchez, the OIG investigator who questioned Compean about the Feb. 17, 2005, shooting.

Christopher Sanchez memo notes:

Compean said that Aldrete-Davila continued to look back over his shoulder towards Compean as Aldrete-Davila ran away from him. Compean said that he began to shoot at Aldrete-Davila because of the shiny object he thought he saw in Aldrete-Davila's hand and because Aldrete-Davila continued to look back towards his direction. Compean explained that he thought the shiny object might be a gun and that Aldrete-Davila was going to shoot at him because he kept looking back at him.

Osvaldo [Aldrete-Davila] had told [Border Patrol agent] Rene Sanchez that his friends had told him they should put together a hunting party and go shoot some BP [Border Patrol] agents in revenge for them shooting Osvaldo. Osvaldo advised Rene Sanchez that he told his friends he was not interested in going after the BP agents and getting in more trouble.

According to the memo, Aldrete-Davila told investigators the agents shot him in the buttocks when he was trying to enter the country illegally from Mexico.

But according to Aldrete-Davila's later testimony and that of the agents, he was shot after trying to evade the agents upon his re-entry into Mexico.

The memo never was disclosed to the jury.

Shots rang out, changing, in Ramos’ mind, the danger level of the chase. Ramos would later testify that “... at some point during the time where I'm crossing the canal, I hear shots being fired. Later, I see Compean on the ground, but I keep running after the smuggler.” Through the thick dust Ramos saw Aldrete-Davila, who was turning to face him. Ramos testified that he saw what appeared to be a nickel-plated gun in his hand.

Believing his life was in danger, he fired. “I shot,” Ramos continued. “But I didn't think he was hit because he kept running into the brush and disappeared. Later we all watched as he jumped into a van [on the other side of the border] waiting for him. He seemed fine. It didn't look like he had been hit at all.”

Was Aldrete-Davila shot that day by a U.S. Border Patrol agent?

US-Mexico Sanchez Connections

US Border Patrol Agent, Rene Sanchez

Upon returning to Mexico, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila complained of his misfortunes to his mother, who contacted the mother-in-law of Border Patrol agent Rene Sanchez in Wilcox, AZ. According to a document, Rene Sanchez stated “that Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila's mother, Marcadia Aldrete-Davila, contacted Rene Sanchez's mother-in-law, Gregoria Toquinto, and advised her about the BP agents shooting Aldrete-Davila. Toquinto told her son-in-law, Rene Sanchez, of the incident, and he spoke to Osvaldo via a telephone call.”

Why would a Mexican drug smuggler's mother call the mother-in-law of a US Border Patrol agent, Rene Sanchez, and tell her that her son was shot by the Border Patrol after dumping a million dollars worth of marijuana?

Agent Rene Sanchez repeatedly called the Fabens Border Patrol Station requesting information to see if there were any seizures or shootings. However, according to the Department of Homeland Security in a memorandum of activity document, Rene Sanchez stated that he queried the Border Patrol Tracking System (BPETS) and found that the Fabens Border Patrol Station seized a load of marijuana on February 17, 2005.

(Note: Agent Rene Sanchez also assisted with securing an attorney for Aldrete-Davila to sue Agents Compean and Ramos in a civil case.)

Office of Inspector General Agent, Christopher Sanchez

Agent Christopher Sanchez served as an ICE agent in Arizona before lateraling over to OIG.

In March 2005, Rene Sanchez calls the Office of Inspector General at DHS and speaks to Agent Christopher Sanchez who was a four-month trainee in OIG. Agent Christopher Sanchez began investigating the case, and eventually went to Mexico to bring Aldrete-Davila back to El Paso. The chain of evidence, including custody gets really murky at this point and Compean and Ramos are subsequently arrested, charged, and arraigned within days.

When Compean and Ramos were arrested, protocol would dictate that their supervisors would have called them in to the office where they would have peacefully surrendered to the FBI or U.S. Marshals. Instead, the Department of Homeland Security staged a simultaneous SWAT assault on the Compean and Ramos homes. You know... the type of arrest scene one would expect to see when arresting a criminal illegal alien drug smuggler from Mexico with a million dollars worth of marijuana hidden in his house.

Was there an ulterior motive in using a SWAT team to arrest Compean and Ramos? Were they sending a message to other Border Patrol agents and their families? Will Border Patrol agents now think twice before doing their jobs on the border?

(W&C Report wonders about the damage done.)

Meanwhile, Aldrete-Davila was given full immunity to testify against US Border Patrol Agents Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos. How did this happen? U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton's office would have us believe that his office was so convinced with the integrity and credibility of Aldrete-Davila, that Sutton thought the third party allegation of an illegal alien drug smuggler who was forced to leave 743 pounds of marijuana in a deserted van on the levee was more than enough to prosecute two US Border Patrol Agents – Compean and Ramos.

Almost a month after the alleged shooting, Agent Rene Sanchez’ mother in-law, Gregoria Toquinto, drove Aldrete-Davila to the William Beaumont Army Medical Center, where he had a fragment of a bullet removed, at taxpayer expense.

How badly could he have been shot, if that much time passed before he required “treatment”? How could anyone even be sure he was shot on February 17^th by the Border Patrol agents? He did, after all, run and jump into a waiting get-away van! And where is that bullet fragment? Did it get lost in that murky chain of evidence? That fragment could be crucial evidence in proving whether it came from Compean or Ramos’ guns. Was it brought up in court? We don’t know because the court has failed to complete the court transcripts.

It would be important to the case to know how the drug smuggler's mother knew the mother-in-law of a Border Patrol agent, and whether or not she or her son-in-law had any personal ties to the drug runner. You would think that both the Border Patrol and the DEA would have wanted to tap their telephones to see who Aldrete-Davila and Sanchez were talking to on both sides of the border.

(Note: During the trial, the connection between Rene Sanchez and Aldrete-Davila confused the Ramos family, and "we questioned how an agent from Arizona would know or want to defend a drug smuggler from Mexico," said Monica Ramos.)

Furthermore, Aldrete-Davila was given a green card AND a car, at American taxpayer expense, so that he could drive back and forth between Mexico. Aldrete-Davila later broke his immunity agreement in October 2005, when officers say he attempted to smuggle 1,000 pounds of marijuana into America, while driving this tax-payer funded vehicle! U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton further extended immunity to this additional felony and sealed the indictment from jurors. Aldrete-Davila’s arrest record was expunged, and a gag order was issued. The jury was not informed of the second smuggling arrest, and Sutton issued a public statement that Aldrete-Davila was “never arrested” on drug charges.

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton

Recent Statements made by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton -

I would much prefer to be here discussing the prosecution of the drug dealer, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, and how we put him in prison for 20 years.

(Note: Sutton calls Aldrete-Davila a drug dealer.)

But, unfortunately, we had no case against him, because there was no evidence tying him to that van.

(Note: Sutton says there was NO EVIDENCE tying Aldrete-Davila to the van containing the marijuana.)

We would not even know about him had he not come and the investigators for Homeland Security been able to find him through his family. The way we found him is that he came forward and was in Mexico with a lawyer. So, the only way to get him to testify was to give him immunity from being prosecuted. He wasn't going to agree to come to the United States, he wasn't going to agree to talk, unless he had some kind of immunity from being prosecuted for that load.

(Note: Sutton thought this was a good deal.)

Again, we have to have evidence that we can prove in court. And we don't have any evidence.

(Note: Sutton referring to Aldrete-Davila.)

But the thing is that he refuses to talk. He wouldn't come to America. He refuses to talk. We had to persuade, like we do all the time in court, we have to persuade witnesses to come to court to testify. There are all kinds of witnesses who come forward in court all the time to testify in court because they're persuaded.

(Note: Sutton leading or coaching the witness?)

I can't tell you what's inside Aldrete-Davila's head.

(Note: Aldrete-Davila has 5-million reasons to lie.)

I mean, there are many times we persuade witnesses to come forward to testify in court. But, remember, he didn't make an admission. He refused to make an admission until his lawyer had an agreement for use immunity. He wouldn't come to the United States and we couldn't extradite him because, number one, we didn't have any evidence against him, and, number two, we didn't have a case.

It's one of those situations where we gave up very little by giving him use immunity in this case, because we couldn't prove a case against him. He did not make admissions until we agreed to give him immunity for what he was saying.

(Note: Sutton gave up very little? Only Compean and Ramos.)

Unfortunately, the case against Aldrete-Davila was not prosecutable because of these agents. There was no way to link Aldrete-Davila with that load of marijuana.

(Note: Sutton contradicts himself.)

Apr. 13, 2005, from a statement by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton's office:

According to the criminal complaint, on or about February 17, 2005, a Mexican National attempting to flee back into Mexico near Fabens, Texas, was shot at by the defendants.

This case is being investigated by the office of Inspector General - Department of Homeland Security.

Aug. 11, 2006, from statement US Attorney Johnny Sutton's office:

“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.”

Later, Sutton issues a fact sheet that makes it sound like the Aldrete-Davila couldn’t possibly be tied to the van of marijuana he was driving - this despite the fact that multiple Border Patrol agents saw him driving the van. No fingerprints? Not even a hair or an eyelash? Doubtful.

On January 17th, 2007, from the misnomered "fact sheet" issued by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton's office:

Myth: THE GOVERNMENT LET A DRUG SMUGGLER GO FREE

Reality: My office would have much preferred to see Aldrete convicted and sent to prison for his crimes. We are in the business of putting guys like Aldrete behind bars. In fact, this office leads the nation in the number of drug smuggling cases we prosecute. Because the agents could not identify him, found no fingerprints, could not tie him to the van and did not apprehend him after shooting him, the case against Aldrete could not be proven.

How is this a MYTH? By Sutton’s own admission, Aldrete-Davila is a drug smuggler, and he is free (though two of our own law enforcement officers are now in federal prison)! It is NOT a myth, it is fact. Sutton’s spin on it doesn’t make it less factual!

On September 19^th, 2006, in a meeting with various Congressmen who were looking into the case, Sutton’s office told the Congressmen (including Ted Poe, John Culberson, Dana Rohrbacher, and others) that Compean and Ramos had made some incriminating admissions and signed statements concerning their own guilt. The Congressmen requested to see those signed statements, and Sutton’s office agreed to produce them immediately. They have failed to do so after repeated demands from the Congressmen’s offices, and four months later, the Congressmen are now doubtful that such statements exist. Did Sutton’s office knowingly LIE to U.S. Congressmen?

It is interesting to note that Johnny Sutton has also aggressively prosecuted a Sheriff’s deputy in Rock Springs, Texas, for allegedly violating the civil rights of illegal aliens he had apprehended. The 23 year old sheriff’s deputy, Deputy Hernandez, had a sterling record, and the Edward County sheriff said Deputy Hernandez was doing exactly what he was told to do. How did the deputy violate the civil rights of the illegal aliens he was trying to apprehend? He shot out the tires of their vehicle when they tried to run over him. One of the bullets struck an illegal alien in the back of the vehicle (he was not killed). Johnny Sutton recommended that the deputy be held without bond. He is sitting in the Del Rio jail today, without bond, and awaiting sentencing.

US Assistant Attorney, Debra Kanof

U.S. Assistant Attorney, Debra Kanof bristled when asked about the Rene Sanchez/Aldrete-Davila connection.

“It's an unconscionable accusation that Sanchez is associated with a drug dealer,” she said. “Most BP agents who are Hispanic have family from Mexico. He was born in the U.S. and raised in Mexico and came back to do high school and later became an agent.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Kanof claimed out that pursuing suspects is not part of the Border Patrol's job. "Agents are not allowed to pursue," she said. "In order to exceed the speed limit, you have to get supervisor approval, and they did not." Additionally, in the words of Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Kanof, “It is a violation of Border Patrol regulations to go after someone who is fleeing.”

That's right.

Assistant US Attorney Debra Kanof decreed that if an illegal immigrant, even a drug kingpin or terrorist, flees from a Border Patrol agent, regulations demand that he not further pursue or apprehend the fugitive. US Border Patrol Agents widely disregard this because their own edicts say things like “detouring illegal entries through improved enforcement” and “apprehending and detouring smugglers of humans, drugs and other contraband.”

Judge Kathleen Cardone

Judge Kathleen Cardone - a part-time fitness instructor - was nominated by President George W. Bush on May 1, 2003, to a newly created seat, and was sponsored by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Judge Cardone was confirmed by the Senate on July 28, 2003, and received commission on July 29, 2003. Her prior experience had been as a family court judge.

Several of the jurors came forward, a few days before the sentencing of Compean and Ramos in October, to say they had been holdouts against a guilty verdict and only voted with the majority when other jurors told them the judge wouldn't allow a hung jury. They expressed they felt severely pressured.

Judge Cardone denied the motion for a new trial.

Agents Compean and Ramos had filed a motion with the court to remain free on bond while they appealed their case. Despite the fact that the two agents were not deemed a flight risk, Judge Cardone, U. S. District Court, Western District of Texas denied the motion, ordered them to surrender to the US Marshall, and thus, ordered the agents to begin serving their sentences.

US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

As governor, George W Bush brought Alberto Gonzales into his administration in 1994 as a senior adviser to the governor, chief elections officer, and the governor's lead liaison on Mexican and border issues. Gonzales later became White House Counsel in 2000, when George Bush became President, and was eventually nominated by Bush for Attorney General of the United States. On November 24, 2004, Gonzales, got the backing of the National Council of La Raza:

The NCLR promotes driver's licenses for illegal aliens, no immigration law enforcement by local and state police and amnesty programs broader than the administration's proposal.

La Raza supports legislation such as the Civil Liberties Restoration Act, which would roll back policies adopted after Sept. 11 designed to protect national security. It supports the "DREAM Act," which would mandate states to offer in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens” thus, providing them with benefits not available to U.S. citizens from other states.

The group opposes the “Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal Act of 2003” and the “Homeland Security Enhancement Act” would give state and local police officers the authority to enforce federal immigration laws.

The group also supports legislation to ensure illegal immigrants' ability to obtain driver's licenses.

On March 29th, 2006, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales named U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton to serve as chair for the Attorney General's Advisory Committee of United States Attorneys. (The Advisory Committee plays a vital role in furthering the Department's law enforcement efforts and represents the voice of the United States Attorneys in making Department policy.) Sutton has been a member of the Advisory Committee since 2002.

Johnny Sutton also serves on the Advisory Committee's Border and Immigration Law Enforcement Subcommittee.

Texas Senator John Cornyn

John Cornyn refused to sign a petition presented by Texas Congressman Ted Poe requesting that the Border Patrol agents be released on bond pending their appeal. He has also refused to look at the case further.

Pat Gray, of KSEV radio, called Senator John Cornyn’s office in D.C. to clarify his perspective on the Border Patrol case

He's not taking a stand. He's not taking ANY stand. "As a former Supreme Court Justice, Senator Cornyn believes in the justice system...these agents had their day in court, and if errors were made, they should come out in the appeals process", said Cornyn staffer, Brian Walsh.

A staffer also told a caller that “the Senator had no power to affect anything in the case…he believes these men got what they deserved, and he will not get involved.” That is a quote verbatim from Senator Cornyn’s office.

While Johnny Sutton worked on George Bush’s team in Austin, during Bush’s governorship, John Cornyn was Bush’s Attorney General. As well, Cornyn appointed a John Sutton, dean of UT Law School (and of the age to be Johnny Sutton’s father or uncle), to be a member of his D.C. transition team.

Texas Congressman Michael McCaul

Michael McCaul refused to sign the petition presented by Congressman Ted Poe requesting that the Border Patrol agents be released on bond pending their appeal. As well, McCaul is Chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Investigations and in that capacity he refused to subpoena documents concerning the case, and refused to hold a hearing to review the case, which was within his purview.

What’s interesting is that Michael McCaul is a former employee of U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton.

Full circle…

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton gave immunity to Mexican national, career criminal, drug smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila in order to pursue his prosecution of U.S. Border Patrol Agents Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos.

A criminal by definition does not follow or obey the law. Since he was given immunity from prosecution, Aldrete-Davila has violated his immunity deal at least twice.

Federal Judge Kathleen Cardone agreed with Sutton to not allow the jury to see or know about:

● The sealed indictment of Aldrete-Davila for his second arrest for drug smuggling in October 2005, after the incident when he was supposedly the victim of agents Ramos and Compean.

● Aldrete-Davila's agreeing to not withhold any information, then refusing to divulge the names of his fellow smugglers who picked him up at the border.

What does a cartel drug lord, with the audacity to put a bounty on the heads of the US Border Patrol Agents, do to a drug mule that loses his merchandise - $1 million dollars worth? Is it possible that within the weeks after Aldrete-Davila abandoned his load of drugs on the American side of the border, that he was shot by the drug cartel for whom he worked? Is it possible that he allowed himself to be “persuaded” by Johnny Sutton to be taken into protective custody in order to gain sanctuary from his employer? Alternatively, did this cartel drug lord have friends high enough in the Vicente Fox government to apply pressure on the Bush Administration?

Think about it: If Compean had shot Aldrete-Davila, a blood trail would have started at the levee.

If Ramos had shot Aldrete-Davila, a blood trail would have started closer to the border.

Based solely on Aldrete-Davila's testimony, with NO EVIDENCE or even a mention of a blood trail, both Compean and Ramos were convicted of shooting him. That's right. There was NO EVIDENCE of any blood to indicate which officer shot him.

It is just as likely that Aldrete-Davila was shot by the drug cartel boss in Mexico who would have been irate about losing over a million dollars in contraband.

● How much tax-payer money was used for this case?

● If there is no way to connect Aldrete-Davila to the van-load of marijuana, then why does Johnny Sutton keep tying him to the van-load of marijuana?

● If, as Sutton claimed in one statement, Aldrete-Davila was merely illegally entering the country, why was there a get-away van waiting for him on the Mexican side of the border?

● If there was no evidence – no blood, no fingerprints – from the scene, and no way to prove he was there, then why would Sutton accept every word of Aldrete-Davila?

● With the extremely lax chain of custody that occurred, with only a partial fragment of bullet removed, who shot Aldrete-Davila?

● Where is the bullet fragment?

● Where are the court transcripts? Repeated requests by Congressmen have been met with statement from the court that they are not yet transcribed. Why have they not been completed almost half a year after the conclusion of the case?

● Why was Aldrete-Davila given immunity - TWICE - plus a green card, and a car?

(W&C Report declares that Johnny Sutton's explanations smell like 3-day old mackerel left to rot in the sun.)

Edd Hendy, of KSEV radio, spoke with the Sheriff of El Paso County, the highest ranking law enforcement officer in the county, and asked if the proceedings were legitimate or should the case be objected to and reviewed. The Sheriff said, “These guys are getting screwed.”

Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila is now suing the US Border Patrol for $5-million for violating his civil rights, and Compean and Ramos are each doing over 12 years hard time.

It's rumored inside the beltway that President Bush will appoint Johnny Sutton to the federal bench before he leaves office on Jan. 20, 2009.

Breaking News...

No word yet on whether President Bush contacted and spoke with the families of Compean and Ramos.

Congress is considering passing its own pardon powers.

Read Rep. Michael McCaul's letter.

---

This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It was started by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we're going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration facing our country, join our Blogburst! Just send an email with your blog name and url to admin at guardtheborders dot com.

Guard the Border Blogburst

Today's Blogburst is also available as a Podcast.

The Price of Lettuce
By Nancy Matthis at American Daughter

Federal subsidies do not reduce the COST of food to the taxpayer. They increase it. Likewise, illegal immigration does not reduce the cost of food, or of any other goods and services, to the taxpayer. Illegal immigration also increases those costs.

In fact, illegal immigration increases the citizen's financial burden in exactly the same ways and using the same types of governmental mechanisms as the inefficient and ill-conceived government subsidy programs. Let's just look at the numbers. The available data points come from different years, so our results will not be specific for any single year, but will be representative of the general problem.

Note: This article responds to two comments made by liberals on earlier articles in our Illegal Immigration series.

1. Joe Budzinski referenced our report on The Crider Case on Nova Townhall Blog. Over there, they play host to a token liberal, Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Stay Puft took it upon himself to publish a response, We Can't Ignore Agriculture, featuring Critique of American Daughter.
   

   "....farmers work on very tight profit margins. They can't pay more. If they paid higher rates, the cost of producing a crop would exceed its market value.
   
   The only way to increase wages in these sorts of jobs would be to increase government subsidies even more (make tax payers pay for the wage increases), or let food prices shoot up (make consumers pay)
   
   both of these options seem untenable. In the later case, the negative economic consequences could be more severe than anything brought on by the recent influx of immigrants....
   
   We need this stuff, but in today's economy it isn't profitable without being propped up with tax dollars. Last year, we put over 16 billion dollars into these subsidies. "

2. The Word-Drum took a shot at our friend Doyle, when he cross-posted our article Illegals Deadlier Than War On Terror on his weblog A Cool Change. As you can see, the fellow who left the comment cannot spell any better than he can do math.
   

   "As a Vegitarian American (Democrat) I resent having to pay the kind of prices for lettuce that would occur if we did something about illegals. It's Bush's fault anyway."

Both of these fellows believe in the incorrect "manna from heaven" theory of government assistance. It is an item of religious faith with liberals that we will deconstruct in the following discussion.

Update -- It is likely that the second comment was meant as a joke. The sad fact is that most liberals are so divorced from reality that it sounded like an authentic liberal response. And we are pretty certain that the first commenter really believes in his logic. As our contributor [Bad Moon Rising] likes to say, "They walk among us. And they vote."

---

The average expenditure for food per person in the United States in 2005 was $3,452 (source).

The average annual agricultural subsidy in the United States between 1996 and 2002 was $16 billion (source).

The population of the United States recently passed the milestone of 300 million (source).

So, if the value of the agricultural subsidy were applied to reduce the cost of food (it actually is not intended to do that and does not do that, but we'll get to that later) it would amount to a benefit of $53.34 per person.

$16 billion divided by 300 million = $53.34 per person
If the subsidy had the effect of benefiting the citizen, it would represent a savings of:

$53.34 on $3,452 or 1.55%
But wait just one minute! That $16 billion agricultural subsidy budget did not come, as liberals would have us believe, as manna from heaven. IT CAME OUT OF THAT SAME CITIZEN'S POCKET IN THE FIRST PLACE. Does that mean that he just broke even? No. Not even close.

In order to implement an agricultural subsidy program, the government had to maintain pro rata segments of

• the Internal Revenue Service to extract the tax money from that poor hapless citizen


• the Department of Agriculture to study the situation and distribute the funds


• the General Accountability Office to audit everyone's books


• the General Services Administration to provide all those agencies with buildings, utilities, and services


• the legislative, executive, and judicial arms of government to create, administer, and judge such a program

Like a bad charity, government provides only fractional benefits in return for the resources it consumes. Our poor taxpayer will be very lucky to pay only a few hundred dollars for his apparent $53.34 benefit. So instead of saving him 1.55% on his food bill, the interference of the government likely costs him an extra three to four percent.

But that is assuming the government intended to help John Q. And that was never the intention. Agricultural subsidies have traditionally been used to pay farmers to let some of their fields lie fallow, so that overall they produce less, and prices remain high. Another use for subsidy funds has been to buy up the surplus of overproduced commodities and store it in government repositories, again so that prices remain high. These subsidies were originally introduced to buy the farm vote. Nowadays they are earmark payoffs for a few big factory farms, another form of big business.

Bottom line: John Q. the food consumer is being taxed to provide the funds that government uses to increase his costs.

---

The situation with illegal immigration is analogous. As it factors into the price of food, illegal immigration can be viewed as an additional agricultural subsidy administered and financed by government.

The farmer's cost of food production in the United States amounts to about 20% of the consumer's cost (source). The value of his crop land is determined by the real estate sector. The cost of equipment -- tractors, harvesters, whatever -- evokes names like Case, Caterpillar, John Deere, Massey Ferguson. A tractor is a tractor, a fixed capital cost. To make the case for the lower cost of illegal labor, one has to look at the systems in place for delivering food to the consumer, the other 80% -- including pickers, processors, packers, the employees in fast food chains, etc.

So will reducing the cost of labor in the food delivery pipeline save John Q. some percentage of his per capita annual food consumption costs?

80% of $3,452 = $2,762
Dispassionate analyses of the costs of illegal immigration are hard to find. One scholarly study was completed in 1997 by Dr. Donald Huddle, Professor Emeritus of Economics at Rice University. Based on 1996 data, he estimated the NET cost of illegal immigration to the federal budget at $24.44 billion. Extrapolated to 2006, through increases in the number of illegals and inflation, that becomes at least $70 billion this year (source).

Most of the organizations advocating for sensible immigration policy use this figure, which represents the cost to the government's budget, and note that this amounts to

$70 billion / 300 million= $233+ per capita for the US population
But wait just one minute! That $70 billion illegal alien subsidy budget did not come, as liberals would have us believe, as manna from heaven. IT CAME OUT OF THE US TAXPAYER'S POCKET. It was collected and administered and redistributed by the same inefficient charity -- the US government -- as the other agricultural subsidy. So to wind up with $70 billion in the federal budget to lavish on our law-breaking uninvited guests, our government had to extract many times that amount from us. You remember -- to pay for the IRS, the GAO, the GSA, the USDA, the three branches, and oh yes for pro rata segments of the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services (remember our bankrupted emergency rooms), Justice (recall the illegals' disproportionately high percentage in the federal pens), etc.

Now we see that we are approaching a substantial portion of John Q.'s food budget. In fact, it has been estimated that illegal labor reduces the price of a head of lettuce about two cents. You'd have to eat a very great deal of lettuce to make this worthwhile.

Does anyone make out? Well, if you are the sort who spends a lot on maids to clean your house, gardeners to tend your lawn, perhaps a nanny and a chauffer, maybe yes. For example, if you can save $10 per hour on a maid who works for you one day a week (say $15 per hour instead of $25 per hour), you will save

$80 x 52 = $4,160 per year
And if you can shave a similar amount off the wages of a gardener who fine-tunes your boxwood and manicures your grass one day per week (say $25 per hour instead of $35 per hour), you can double your savings.

These wages are the going rates in the DC suburbs where our lawmakers have their posh dwellings. Throw in the Hispanic nanny who tends the little ones 48 hours per week while you are at work, and this becomes very attractive.

So the "Tijuana express" IS benefiting the folk who are responsible for keeping the underground railroad running. But let's be honest. This is not about the price of lettuce.

---

For an overview of our government's history of disastrous meddling in the agricultural economy, read Agricultural Subsidies in the HighBeam Encyclopedia here.

Previous articles in our Illegal Immigration series:

The Crider Case
Illegals Deadlier Than War On Terror
Going By The Numbers

---

This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It was started by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we're going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration facing our country, join our Blogburst! Just send an email with your blog name and url to admin at guardtheborders dot com.