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February 19, 2009
Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean Homecoming
Border agents celebrate homecoming
Former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean left their cells in solitary confinement to reunite with their families in El Paso, Texas, today.
"He said, 'I love you.' And he just embraced me," Monica Ramos said on Fox News' Glenn Beck television show today in the first interview following their release.
The Bureau of Prisons has instructed them to wear ankle bracelets and refrain from speaking to the press until their official release date.
"It was wonderful," Ramos said of her exciting day. "It's gone by pretty fast, so we can only hope the next 33 days go as fast."
Ramos said their children are "extremely excited" about seeing their father.
"They had a couple of minutes with their father, here," she said. "It's really overwhelming for them. They finally hugged their dad, and they know it's real. In time, I think we'll begin the healing process."
She said her husband looked relieved when she first saw him in the airport.
"He just looked around, just very appreciative, looking around and just absorbing the environment that he was in."
Patty Compean told the Glenn Beck television show that her family needed time to spend with Jose before participating in interviews.
"They've been in solitary confinement without any human contact except for the guards and visitors for two years," Patty Compean told WND when she first learned of the commutation. "Things have changed. Jose's been gone for two years. That's a lot to take in."
Several media personalities asked to witness the homecoming, including Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, but Patty said her family is not ready for the crowd.
"Everybody has contributed in one way or another to this," she told WND. "Honestly, at this point, I'd love to have people there, but at the same time, I want to have that moment for us. It's been two years."
Beck asked why Ramos would ever consider returning to law enforcement positions when the government "sold him down the river."
"Well, he may not trust his government, but he loves his country," Botsford replied. "He wants to serve, as he has done with honor and distinction in the past. And that's what his career aspirations are and hopefully we'll get them both back to that spot if that's what they so desire."
In the interview with Beck, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, summarized a number of falsehoods Congress had been told about the border agents' case.
"We were told that these two border agents went out that day to shoot an illegal, which is an absolute lie," he said. "We were also told that they knew that the drug dealer was unarmed. That is a lie. They both believed him to be armed. But, most importantly, the U.S. attorney's office told us … that the drug dealer didn't bring in drugs a second time. … I figured out that was a lie, too."
He continued, "Both these individuals were political prisoners. We want to get to the bottom of what the involvement of the Mexican government was in prosecuting these two guys. "
Poe said he believes that there's a real problem on both sides of the border and that this was the only case where the U.S. attorney's office went on a "nationwide Madison Avenue PR stunt" to justify prosecution.
"It just seems like there's a rat in the room," Poe said. "And we want to get rid of it."
Wild Thing's comment.......
I am so happy for these two men and for their families. God bless all of them.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at February 19, 2009 04:44 AM
Comments
I watched the show and cried through the whole thing. I loved how Glenn beck spoke directly to Nacho even though he couldn't be on screen.
We have so much work to do in this country. They can bash Bush for the next 4 years (and I'm sure they will), but these problems have been growing for decades mostly through the Democrats' activism to divide this country and kill all the principles and values that the Founding Fathers believed in and built this country on.
No more Silent Majority!! We have to do everything we can so this sort of travesty never happens again to our Border Agents as well as our military that are sitting in prison for doing their job on the battlefield.
Posted by: yankeemom at February 19, 2009 08:19 AM
Sorry Bush is responsible for this one. He made some deal with the Mexican Government to put Ramos and Compean on trial. They even used the drug dealer as there primary witness.
When the Country was screaming for the release of Ramos and Compean, Bush turned a deaf ear and wouldn't hear of it. In the end Bush would not pardon them but commuted their sentence, meaning they are considered Convicted Felons for the rest of their lives. And for what...Doing their jobs which happened to offend the chief Wetback of Mexico.
Posted by: Mark at February 19, 2009 09:42 AM
This incident is a black mark against our government, just like Waco and Ruby Ridge.
This is also a black mark against George W Bush. He stuck by his crony buddy, Johnny Sutton. Congressmen Poe, Sessions and others are trying to find out how much influence the Mexican government had on this case and why. Bush seemed to accept the case of the drug runner and the Mexican government over his own two BPs. Don't forget, Bush went against the wishes of more than 2/3rds of Americans who wanted the border sealed. Instead, Bush was working for his business buddies who want cheap labor. It has been that way here in Texas for decades. It worked OK until there was a drug problem and before illegals became eligible for government benefits. Then it became a massive tide of illegal immigration.
It is known that the Mexican drug cartels have bought political influence on both sides of the border. These two agents got caught getting in the way of somebody's evening job.
There is also a deputy sheriff sitting in prison for trying to stop illegals. He is another victim of Johnny Sutton.
Posted by: TomR at February 19, 2009 11:14 AM
Mark and TomR are absolutely correct on this. Bush's "good friend" Johnny Sutton ramrodded the conviction of these two men who were protecting our country from illegal invaders and drugs. Both Republican and Democrat lawmakers were calling for pardoning these two men but Bush chose only to commute their sentences. It's a sad day when the Mexican Government dictates to a US President and he obeys
Posted by: BobF at February 19, 2009 11:37 AM
Mexico is a filthy nasty corrupt country and its people have invaded our country, a soverign nation with not so much as a whimper. What we need to do is nuke that rat hole and turn it to glass. The world will be better off without Mexico.
Posted by: cuchieddie at February 19, 2009 11:50 AM
To think that we as a nation have been led to believe that only China and the former Soviet Union held political prisoners in gulags for political reasons. We've been duped, all the way to the Whitehouse. No I can't forget Waco, Ruby Ridge, the Campeon-Ramos railroading, the witch hunts against Libby, the ongoing trials against the Marines, the attempts to indict Cheney and Bush. This is Stalinist Communist tactics at their best.
What kind of lifestyle is a lifelong house arrest? Campeon and Ramos don't have a chance.
This is the caliber of Massachusetts leadership we can expect from pseudo-Texans. You've worn out my respect GW Bush but I truly loath GHW Bush, pseudo-Texans. What was GW protecting? A drug deal, the NAU or was he just setting us up for the Obama take over? Bush sure as hell destroyed the GOP.
Posted by: Jack at February 19, 2009 01:59 PM
Thank you everyone. I agree, this whole thing could have been avoided and they should have appreciated the heros these two men truly are.
Posted by: Wild Thing at February 19, 2009 06:04 PM
