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WASHINGTON, DC 20510
July 18, 2007President George W. BushThe White House1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.Washington, D.C.Dear President Bush:On October 19
th
of last year, former Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramosand Jose Compean were sentenced to
11
years and 1 day, and 12 years,respectively, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas for theevents surrounding their attempt to apprehend a drug trafficker who was delivering743 pounds of marijuana valued at $1.2 million.Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a fact-finding hearing onthis case. That hearing confirmed the concerns raised by many members of thepublic: that this penalty levied on these Agents is excessive and that they deservethe immediate exercise of your Executive clemency powers.We believe that this is a case of prosecutorial overreaching, and to allowAgents Ramos and Compean to serve over a decade in prison would represent aserious miscarriage of justice.Apart from the legal issues pending on appeal, the hearing highlighted themany additional irregularities in this prosecution which warrant clemency,including:• Aldrete-Davila, the star witness, was transporting an enormous quantityof drugs when Agents Ramos and Compean tried to apprehend him,Aldrete-Davila tried to flee from the border agents three times, got into aphysical altercation with one of the agents and subsequently lied whenfirst asked about the events;
• Aldrete-Davila selectively provided information to prosecutors, andrefused to reveal his drug source, and he even refused to provide thenames of his friends who had considered forming a "hunting party" inMexico to randomly shoot border patrol agents in revenge for hisinjuries. This was a direct breach of Aldrete-Davila's immunityagreement and jeopardized the lives of front line border patrol agents.• Despite the fact that this incident occurred while Aldrete-Davila wastransporting 743 pounds of marijuana, the prosecution gave him a bordercrossing pass that allowed him to enter the U.S. legally, without notifyingU.S. authorities and without supervision;• There is evidence that while using this pass Aldrete-Davila entered theUnited States on 10 occasions in the eight months, and on at least oneoccasion he was wholly unsupervised;• There is evidence that during one of these crossings Aldrete-Davilaentered the United States and again transported a large quantity of marijuana - perhaps as much as 750 pounds;• There is evidence that this second transportation of drugs occurred on theeve of his admission to a United States Military hospital for treatmentthat the prosecutor specially arranged. If true, this means he used hisimmunity to further harm the United States - yet nothing was done torevoke his immunity and prosecutors continued to treat him as a"victim'"
,
. • We know that the jury was barred from hearing any evidence aboutAldrete-Davila's second drug load and instead, the prosecutor was able toargue in closing statements that Aldrete-Davila had run from borderagents just because he wanted to get home.• In addition, the prosecutors chose to charge the agents under 18 U.S.C.924(c) despite the fact that such a charge carries a 10-year mandatoryminimum sentence, despite the fact that an early evaluation of the caselead prosecutors to offer plea deals that would have produce much lowersentences, and despite the fact that Section 924(c) should be used as anenhancing charge against drug dealers and individuals who commitviolent crimes;
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Ramos and Campean: Letter from Senators Cornyn and Feinstein
Documents pertaining to jailed border patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Campean.
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