Illegal Immigrants Beat Jailed Border Patrol Agent

One of the U.S. Border Patrol agents sentenced to prison for intercepting a Mexican drug smuggler has been severely beaten in jail by a group of illegal immigrant inmates.

Ignacio Ramos, imprisoned along with fellow Border Patrol agent Jose Campeon, was violently assaulted by a gang of illegal alien convicts who yelled in Spanish “maten a la migra” (kill the Border Patrol agent) as they delivered multiple blows to his body.

The attack occurred in the night as Ramos slept in his prison cell. A group of about five inmates repeatedly punched and kicked him, causing numerous severe wounds to the head, arms, back and shoulders. Family members say that Ramos is in isolation and didn’t receive medical treatment for more than 48 hours.

Ramos and his partner, Compean, were guarding the Mexican border near El Paso in February 2005 when they intercepted a van loaded with 743 pounds of marijuana. The admitted drug smuggler, an illegal immigrant named Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, tried to flee and one of the agents shot him in the buttocks though he still got away.
Federal prosecutors actually went to Mexico and offered the drug dealer immunity to testify against the Border Patrol agents who were subsequently convicted on charges of causing serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm and violating the drug smuggler’s civil rights. The agents were sentenced to 11 and 12-year prison terms, which they began serving just a few weeks ago.

Outraged lawmakers from both parties as well as thousands of law-abiding U.S. citizens have formally asked President George W. Bush to pardon the agents, but so far the president has ignored the pleas. In fact, Bush overlooked the agents when he recently pardoned 14 criminals that included several drug dealers and a man convicted for bombing a coal mine.