Petition protests agents' conviction

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A national online petition drive is demanding a review of the case against two U.S. Border Patrol agents who face 20 years in prison for shooting a drug-smuggling suspect in the buttocks as he abandoned nearly 800 pounds of marijuana and fled back into Mexico.

Among several groups endorsing the petition effort is a national coalition of American Hispanics who favor tighter immigration enforcement and have called the March convictions of Agents Ignacio Ramos, 37, and Jose Alonso Compean, 28, "a gross miscarriage of justice."

"To many people in South Texas, the Border Patrol is the only thing standing between them and the criminal gangs that run everything from drugs, to guns, to human beings across that border," said Al Rodriguez, chairman of You Don't Speak For Me (YDSFM). "The people who are out there doing battle with these criminals are heroes who deserve our complete support."

The petition effort, spearheaded by Rep. Walter B. Jones, North Carolina Republican, asks President Bush and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to reopen the case against the two agents, who face sentencing next month in a federal court in El Paso.

"The Justice Department's outrageous prosecution does nothing but tie the hands of our Border Patrol and prevent them from securing America against a flood of illegal immigrants, drugs, counterfeit goods and quite possibly, terrorists," Mr. Jones said. "This demoralizing prosecution puts the rights of illegal-alien drug smugglers ahead of our homeland security and undermines the critical mission of better enforcing current immigration laws."

Mr. Jones met with Assistant U.S. Attorney General Will Moschella on Friday, along with Andy Ramirez, head of the Friends of the Border Patrol, to discuss the government's case against the agents. The Web site address for the petition drive is www.justicefortheborderpatrol.com.

A federal jury convicted Ramos and Compean on charges of causing serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm in a crime of violence, and a civil rights violation. The shooting occurred Feb. 17, 2005, near Fabens, Texas, 30 miles southeast of El Paso.

Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, a Mexican national, was shot as he ran from the agents along the Rio Grande after they said he pointed what appeared to be a gun at them. He fled to an awaiting van in Mexico. Mr. Aldrete-Davila was given immunity to testify in the case after being tracked down in Mexico by an investigator from the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General. He is now suing the U.S. government for $5 million for violating his civil rights.

The Washington-based Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has joined in the petition effort, calling the prosecution "politically motivated."

"Instead of allowing the dedicated men and women of the Border Patrol to do their jobs and protect the American public, the current administration has attempted to tie [its] hands," said FAIR President Dan Stein.

Mr. Rodriguez, the YDSFM chairman, said "rampant lawlessness" along the Southwest border is of "great concern to all Americans," but especially for the people who live in communities along the border.

"For these largely American Hispanic communities, the Border Patrol amounts to an overstressed and outmanned line of protection for communities under siege," he said, adding that the cities and towns along the border are "overwhelmed by illegal immigrants and the crime that comes with them."

The convictions and pending sentences also have drawn criticism and calls for hearings from Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Wisconsin Republican.