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Senate hearings on Ramos-Compean postponed Senate Judiciary Committee hearings scheduled by Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., to investigate the prosecution of border agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean have been postponed, WND has learned. Sen. Feinstein told WND that scheduling difficulties were responsible for the cancellation of the Feb. 27 hearing and her office anticipates that a new hearing date will be set soon. A spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he was disappointed to hear of the postponement, noting the senator's staff had done extensive work in preparation. As WND reported, Feinstein received permission from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to examine the case. The Bush administration has drawn strong criticism from Republican congressmen angry about its handling of a case in which two border agents were given 11- and 12-year sentences after granting a drug smuggler immunity to testify against them....
U.S. 'rewarded' alien for his testimony An illegal alien got a "get out of jail free card" plus U.S. legal documents and monetary compensation from federal prosecutors in exchange for his testimony against a U.S. Border Patrol agent accused of using excessive force during an arrest. Former agent David Sipe, who was convicted and fired, recently won an acquittal at a court-ordered retrial. A federal appeals court in Texas ordered the new trial, saying prosecutors gave the illegal alien and two others additional inducements not disclosed at the time for their testimony, including Social Security cards, witness fees, permits allowing travel to and from Mexico, living expenses and free use of government phones. "The government stated in writing the aliens were allowed to remain and work in the United States pending trial and specified that 'no other promises or advantages' had been given," the court said. "That was not true." Mr. Sipe, 35, of Bethany, Okla., was convicted in 2001 after a five-day jury trial in McAllen, Texas, before U.S. District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa. U.S. Attorney Mervyn Mosbacker Jr.'s office charged the agent with using excessive force and causing bodily injury in the 2000 arrest of a Mexican national, Jose Guevara....
Smuggler's 2nd delivery of marijuana confirmed Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, the Mexican drug smuggler given immunity to return to the United States and testify against two Border Patrol agents, was involved in smuggling a second load of marijuana into the United States after he was given court protection, records have confirmed. Newly released transcripts of the trial of Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos have corroborated WND reports that the Mexican illegal alien was involved in the second drug case, this one involving a load of marijuana brought into the U.S. in October 2005. The incident followed his grant of immunity by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton in return for truthful testimony against Ramos and Compean. The former agents are serving 11 and 12 year prison terms for their actions in a Feb. 17, 2005, incident in which they shot Aldrete-Davila as he was fleeing across the border into Mexico....
Border violence rises along with enforcement Jeannine Pallotto often rides her favorite Arabian horse on desert trails through stands of saguaro cactus and ironwood trees in Arizona's Ironwood Forest National Monument -- trails crisscrossed by immigrant smuggling corridors. Mindful of escalating violence tied to a crackdown on the border, though, she knows when to retreat from strangers. ``You never know which ones will pull a gun on you,'' said Pallotto, 45, who has lived next to this mountainous terrain northwest of Tucson for four years. Illegal border crossings are declining because of tougher enforcement, posting an overall 27 percent drop in the four months ending Jan. 31, the U.S. Border Patrol says. All sectors on the southern border, even the nation's busiest one based in Tucson, are showing drops in apprehensions of illegal migrants. But the crackdown has been accompanied by deadlier tactics by the most daring smugglers, who are now charging higher fees to bring Mexicans and others from Latin America into the United States illegally. In four recent cases, seven people were killed in Arizona, mostly after apparent smuggler-on-smuggler violence; one case is also being investigated for possible vigilantism. At Ironwood Forest earlier this month, three suspected immigrants were killed after gunmen apparently tried to steal a rival organization's load of illegal migrants; one alleged smuggler is now in custody....

This is just amazing. If we go back to the Kit Laney case, the U.S. Attorney believed everything Federal law enforcement told him. This was a Federal agency against a U.S. rancher. In the cases above, Federal law enforcement is not only disbelieved by the U.S. attorney, but has charges filed against it's officers. In these cases it's a Federal agency against illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. So, don't believe the U.S. rancher but do believe the illegal drug smugglers? What has become of the Bush Justice Dept.? Let's hope Senator Feinstein holds those hearings, and then expands them to look at the practices of the entire department.