Enforcing the law and protecting those who protect us
February 2007 Column
Washington,
Feb 8, 2007 -
Recent news of yet another border security agent getting
thrown in jail for doing his job has me wondering, “Why are American border
agents doing time for the crimes of illegal immigrants?”
Next month, Edwards County Deputy Sheriff Guillermo “Gilmer”
F. Hernandez will be sentenced for firing at a vehicle that tried to run him over and injuring a passenger, a Mexican national being smuggled into this
country illegally. Sadly, a jury
convicted Hernandez for violating the rights of the illegal immigrant!
Why can’t our government figure out that the border
agents are the good guys and the illegal immigrants are the ones who should be
arrested, detained and returned home?
According to news reports, the people in the carload in
question paid large sums of money to be taken across the border illegally and
dropped off in Austin and Dallas. These
passengers knew what they were doing was against the law and yet the person
charged with enforcing the law and defending our borders has to pay the
penalty.
Gilmer did not accept probation for a guilty plea because he
felt that he had done nothing wrong. Can
you blame him?
You may not be surprised to learn that the same U.S.
Attorney who pressed charges against Gilmer also sent two other border agents
to jail under very similar circumstances.
The lead prosecutor convicted border agents Ignacio Ramos
and Jose Compean for protecting our borders and trying to keep a drug thug off
the American streets. The agents were
unjustly convicted for shooting a fleeing illegal drug smuggler during an
altercation after 740 pounds (over $1 million street value) of marijuana was
discovered in his van near the border.
Ramos and Compean are currently serving 11 and 12 year prison terms,
respectively, for doing their jobs.
Worse, the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General
just testified before a House panel that the two agents in charge of
investigating the case LIED to Members of Congress! This news broke on the heels of the
revelation that Ramos got beaten up in prison after fellow inmates saw him on America’s Most Wanted. The Ramos-Compean case frosts me to no end
and I’ve called on Bush to pardon these agents and backed legislation
advocating just that.
Frankly, if Administration were doing its job in the first
place, illegal immigrants wouldn’t be flooding through our porous borders at
unprecedented rates!
What is wrong with our legal system? How will these three unjust verdicts hamper
efforts to hire border security agents in the future?
What message will this gross miscarriage of justice send to
the untold number of people who want to come here illegally? Will the fate of the protected illegal
immigrants inspire even more to plunder our porous borders?
We owe our border agents across this nation a huge thank you
– and in these three cases – an apology.
If we are a nation founded on the rule of law then the
number one rule should be stopping the countless illegal immigrants who cross
our borders every day.
