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Congressman: Probe Mexico's role in prosecutions A Republican congressman is asking a Democrat colleague to hold hearings to investigate the involvement of the Mexican government in the decision to prosecute Texas Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez and Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean for shooting incidents involving illegal immigrants. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., told WND his office is writing a memo to Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., after WND's story this week disclosing the involvement of the Mexican Consulate in both cases. "It appears we are giving more credence to directions from Mexican government officials than we are to the dictates of our own Constitution and the security of the people of the United States," Rohrabacher told WND. The congressman is the ranking Republican member of the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Delahunt has taken Rohrabacher's place as chairman....
Discrepancies in case against Border Patrol unresolved A series of unexplained discrepancies and contradictions mar the Report of Investigation that was released recently by the Department of Homeland Security to Congress over the case involving former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. For example, the heavily redacted report left unclear what the relationship is between Willcox, Ariz-based Border Patrol agent Rene Sanchez and drug smuggler Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, with whom Sanchez supposedly grew up in Mexico. Ramos and Compean were charged, tried and convicted of shooting Aldrete-Davil, a fleeing drug smuggler, in the buttocks. They were given sentences of 11 and 12 years in prison, while federal prosecutors granted the drug smuggler immunity to return to the United States and testify against the law enforcement officers. The circumstances of the case have outraged many concerned over the problems of illegal immigration and running drugs from Mexico into the United States. Dozens of members of Congress as well as several activist groups have called for the officers to be pardoned. But the investigation into the record is further complicated, not only by the redactions in the report, but by the failure of the U.S. District Court in El Paso to produce a transcript of the trial, now some 11 months after the trial was completed. Moreover, the Homeland Security document refers to many investigative reports not included in the redacted report. Similarly unanswered is exactly who Aldrete-Davila is and how he entered the United States on Feb. 17, 2005. Government investigators and the prosecutor do not have a consistent answer to this important question, one considered central to the entire case. "The prosecutors did not know who Aldrete-Davila really was," Andy Ramirez, chairman of Friends of the Border Patrol told WND, "nor did they care to find out. Once [prosecutor] Johnny Sutton found the drug smuggler, he set his mind on prosecuting the Border Patrol agents. There is nothing in the record to suggest Sutton ever spent a single minute investigating the drug smuggler for prosecution, or finding out who might be related to the drug smuggler that he could prosecute."....
Mexico demanded U.S. prosecute sheriff, agents The Mexican Consulate played a previously undisclosed role in the events leading to U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton's high-profile prosecution of Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who are serving 11 and 12 year sentences for their role in the shooting of a drug smuggler, according to documents obtained by WND. And Mexican consular officials also demanded the prosecution of Texas Sheriff's Deputy Guillermo "Gilmer" Hernandez, who subsequently was brought to trial by Sutton, the documents reveal. Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas – among a number of congressman who have fiercely opposed the prosecution of Ramos and Compean – told WND he has "long suspected that Mexican government officials ordered the prosecution of our law enforcement agents." "Mexico wants to intimidate our law enforcement into leaving our border unprotected, and we now have confirmation of it in writing," Culberson said. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, was equally outraged. "The Mexican government should do more to keep illegals from Mexico from crossing into the United States, especially drug dealers, rather than be concerned about our border agents," he told WND. "The U.S. Justice Department should not be working for the Mexican government." The White House and Sutton's office in El Paso, Texas, did not respond to calls from WND asking for comment....
Border Patrol agent shoots at migrants throwing rocks A Border Patrol agent in El Paso opened fire at a group of suspected migrants who were throwing rocks, in what officials described as part of a growing number of assaults on agents along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The agent, whose name was not released, was not hurt and no one was believed to have been shot in the incident. It happened Tuesday along the Rio Grande off the César Chávez Border Highway near Fonseca Drive, agency spokesman Doug Mosier said. About 8 p.m., the agent, who was alone, approached a group of four or five men who began throwing rocks, one of which came close to hitting the agent in the head, Mosier said. The agent fired his handgun at least once at the group, which dispersed and ran into Mexico. "We are still not sure where the rocks were thrown from, but we do believe they (attackers) started out on the U.S. side of the river and ended up south in Mexico. The whole incident took place in the riverbed," Mosier said. Authorities in Juárez were contacted, but the men were not found. An investigation into the shooting continues....
On US-Mexico border, illegal crossings drop One phrase sums up both the chief achievement and complaint of National Guard soldiers and airmen posted along this dusty strip of border with Mexico: "Nothing happening." That's good news for Operation Jumpstart, President Bush's eight-month-old initiative to reinforce America's southern border with National Guard troops until enough border patrol agents are trained. The extra troops appear to be discouraging people from trying to cross illegally. Apprehensions of illegal immigrants in the Yuma sector – one of the busiest for the past two years and a top target for the operation – have dropped 62 percent in the last four months compared with the same period a year ago. That's the biggest drop of all nine border patrol sectors on the frontier with Mexico and double the average decline. The amount of marijuana seized in the Yuma sector fell 36 percent for the same period. The figures for the entire southern border – a 27 decline in apprehensions and a 51 percent increase in marijuana seized – are encouraging, experts say. "If those numbers hold [for the entire fiscal year], that would indeed represent a significant drop," says Luis Cabrera, an expert on transnational justice issues at Arizona State University in Tempe. "We're pretty sure there's a deterrence effect."....