INVASION USA
Ignacio Ramos reported in ‘emaciated’ condition
Congressional aide says Border Patrol agent ‘languishing in solitary’
Posted: June 22, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
A congressional aide who visited Ignacio Ramos in prison said the convicted Border Patrol agent appeared emaciated, losing more than 30 pounds in solitary confinement.
Ramos, who is appealing his 11-year sentence for the non-lethal shooting of a Mexican drug smuggler, has been in a “special housing unit” since he was beaten by inmates in February at the medium-security Federal Correctional Complex in Yazoo City, Miss., said Tara Setmayer, spokeswoman for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif.
“He was very happy to see me, but, overall, he was very emotional,” Setmayer told WND. “He is demoralized. Languishing in solitary for 135 days takes its toll on anyone.”
The men who bloodied Ramos with kicks from steel-toed boots are in the same unit, Setmayer said.
Although the prison tries to make a distinction, she noted, “the protective measures are punitive, so he suffers all of the same restrictions as those there for disciplinary reasons.”
A lockdown had been implemented prior to Setmayer’s visit June 11, and Ramos had not received a hot meal in two days, Setmayer said.
Ramos’ wife, Monica, visited him Monday and reported he was in the same condition.
Charles Smith, spokesman for the Yazoo City prison, said he could not comment on Ramos, or any prisoner, without the prisoner’s written permission.
Ramos and Border Patrol colleague Jose Compean are serving sentences for their actions in the shooting of drug smuggler Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila-Aldrete as he fled back to Mexico after driving across the border with 742 pounds of marijuana in February 2005. U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton gave the smuggler immunity to serve as the government’s star witness and testify against the border agents. While under immunity, the smuggler was caught in another drug delivery, but the judge sealed that information from the jury.
In another case prosecuted by Sutton, Texas Deputy Sheriff Gil Hernandez was convicted of violating the civil rights of two illegal aliens injured from shell fragments that struck them as the officer shot at the tires of a van in which they escaped from a routine traffic stop. The van driver had tried to run over Hernandez.
WND reported this week a judge reinstated Border Patrol Agent David Sipe six years after his felony conviction for striking an illegal alien who resisted arrest.
Setmayer also visited Ramos just days after the February assault, witnessing his injuries first hand.
“It was one of the most emotionally intense things I’ve ever experienced,” she said. “The hardest thing was walking out of the facility while they were handcuffing him and taking him away.”
Setmayer said that while she didn’t have to see bruises this time, she saw an “emaciated officer.”
“It just emboldens us even more so,” she said of congressional efforts on behalf of the agents, including a resolution calling for pardons. “It was encouraging for him to find out our efforts are moving forward full steam ahead.”
Rohrabacher has requested a hearing on the case before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight. Among its aims, the panel wants to examine possible influence by the Mexican government on the case. Sutton has said he is willing to testify.
As WND reported, the Mexican Consulate sought the prosecution of Ramos and Compean, and also Hernandez, according to documents obtained by WND.
Setmayer said her office has been “stonewalled” by the Department of Justice in an attempt to get details of Davila’s immunity agreement and of a second attempt by him to deliver a load of marijuana across the border.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security subcommittee, also is examining the case.
Setmayer said more Congress members have signed on to a bill by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., that calls for the two agents to be pardoned.
She pointed out the case has received attention recently amid discussion of whether President Bush should pardon convicted former White House aide Lewis Libby. Presidential candidates Hunter and Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., have asked how the president can consider pardoning Libby if he doesn’t pardon Ramos and Compean.
Rohrabacher says he will not endorse anyone for president who doesn’t commit to pardoning the two agents.
