DHS Inspector General Richard L. Skinner admitted under questioning by Congressman John Culberson that the Department of Homeland Security lied to Congress on September 26, 2006 when it made claims that Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean confessed guilt and declared they "wanted to shoot some Mexicans" before an incident where Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, a Mexican drug smuggler, was shot in the buttocks while fleeing across the border.
Included in the claims by the DHS Inspector General's office during the September meeting were documents that concluded the agents:
- confessed to knowingly shooting at an unarmed suspect;
- stated during the interrogation they did not believe the suspect was a threat to them at the time of the shooting;
- stated that day they "wanted to shoot a Mexican";
- were belligerent to investigators;
- destroyed evidence and lied to investigators
This has now all proven to be false as there is no documentation of any of the above claims and IG Skinner told the members of congress they were "misled" that there were such documents. Source: WND
Claims have been made that the Border Patrol agents were at fault because they did not file a written report on the incident, but as the San Bernardino Sun reports that is a fallacy, since the firearms policy for Border Patrol agents clearly states that only the supervisors of Border Patrol agents will be allowed to file a written report on firearms incidents.
Further, Border Patrol firearms policy prohibits agents involved in a shooting from filing a written report on the incident, as reported earlier this week.
The policy requires that supervisors or investigators file the report within three hours of the incident.
"Ensure that supervisory personnel ... are aware that employees involved in a shooting incident shall not be required or allowed to submit a written statement of the circumstances surrounding the incident," according to the firearms policy.
Both agents verbally reported the incident to their supervisors, yet they have been accused by prosecutor Johnny Sutton of attempting to cover up the incident.
Congressman John Culberson is now calling for the resignation of the DHS officials involved in lying to congress.
In his statement today, Culberson accused the DHS of leaving U.S. borders "largely undefended" and deploying National Guard troops "whose 'standard operating procedure' is 'to retreat' when confronted with armed criminals."
The "unjust" prosecution of Ramos and Compean, he said, "weakens border security by discouraging all U.S. law enforcement officers from drawing their weapons in self-defense or in the defense of our nation."
The travesty of justice for these two continues...
Other Commentary:
Freedom Folks and more here
Euphoric Reality
Lonewacko
