Walter B. Jones: “soon the page will bring forward a photo of two border agents who are now in prison. And it is a travesty of injustice…”

“soon the page will bring forward a photo of two border agents who are now in prison. And it is a travesty of injustice as bad as I have ever seen. The portrait is of the two border agents, Mr. Compean and Mr. Ramos. Mr. Compean has a wife and three children, one, his youngest, 4 months old. Agent Ramos has a wife and three sons. Mr. Speaker, many of us in the House have made the House aware of this case. These agents were convicted last spring for wounding a Mexican drug smuggler who brought 743 pounds of marijuana across our southern border into Texas. The agents fired shots during a foot chase with the smuggler, who had fled in a van they were pursuing. The van contained approximately $1 million worth of marijuana. The U.S. Attorney's Office prosecuted the agents and granted immunity to a known drug smuggler for his testimony against our border agents. This prosecution has been questioned by many Members of Congress and by citizens throughout this country. These men never should have been prosecuted; yet they are now handcuffed in Federal prison. We have repeatedly petitioned President Bush to pardon these agents. Mr. Speaker, after months of silence, the President said in a television interview last week that he would take a ``sober look'' at the case and a ``tough look at the facts'' to see whether these agents should be pardoned. I hope that at this time the President and his staff will take an honest look at the facts of this case.”