Hispanics Sue Over English-Only Rule at Catholic School

Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Associated Press

WICHITA, Kan. —

Four Hispanic families are suing St. Anne's Catholic School over a policy that requires students to speak English at all times while at school.

The lawsuit, filed Monday, calls for an end to the policy and asks for an order barring similar policies at other diocese schools. It seeks the return of one student to the school who was allegedly kicked out for refusing to sign the "English only" pledge. And it asks for court costs and unspecified damages for discrimination and emotional suffering.

"Language is an essential characteristic of one's national origin," according to the complaint filed in the case. "The ban on Spanish at St. Anne's created an atmosphere of intimidation, inferiority and isolation for Hispanic students."

The lawsuit was filed by parents Mike and Clara Silva, Maria and Fermin Fernandez, Guadalupe Cruz-Tello and Alma Contreras on behalf of themselves and their minor children. It names as defendants St. Anne Catholic School, Principal Margaret Nugent, St. Anne Catholic Parish and the Catholic Diocese of Wichita.

"I think if one school is granted their wish by not allowing their students to speak another language, then other schools will follow suit," Mike Silva said.

Diocese spokesman Fred Solis called the lawsuit unfortunate, saying the church has historically offered support and services to minorities and spoken out for immigrant rights.

The diocese has said the school enacted the policy in response to four students who were using Spanish to bully others and to put down teachers and administrators.

Call renewed for pardons for border agents

'Once again, I am challenging President Bush to do what is right'
Posted: April 18, 2008 8:50 pm Eastern
WorldNetDaily

Mychal Massie, the chief of the nonprofit and nonpartisan Project 21 and a columnist for WND, is renewing his call to President Bush to pardon two former U.S. Border Patrol agents who were convicted and jailed for shooting at a fleeing drug smuggler.

The call from Massie, whose Project 21 has been a leading voice of the African-American community for nearly two decades, follows a guilty plea from Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, the smuggler in the case involving agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos.

Aldrete-Davila pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court in El Paso, Texas, to drug smuggling and is to be sentenced in July.

Compean and Ramos are serving prison terms for shooting at the smuggler while he was running back to Mexico in 2005, Massie's statement noted. Aldrete-Davila conspired to smuggle marijuana into the U.S. twice after he was granted immunity to testify against the agents.

"It is time to prove that he [Bush] places the welfare of American communities and those men and women who risk their lives to protect them over the welfare of lying illicit drug smugglers," Massie said. "Pardon Ramos and Compean now, Mr. President!"

Witness: Agent shot surrendering migrant

ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN

Published: 02.28.2008

A man fatally shot last year by a U.S. Border Patrol agent was starting to kneel in the act of surrendering when he was hit in the back of his head or neck, pushed down and shot, his brother testified Wednesday.

Jorge Dominguez Rivera, 25, told a federal jury that his brother, Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera, did not threaten agent Nicholas Corbett with a rock, contrary to what Corbett's lead attorney said in opening statements.

Sean Chapman told jurors that his client was justified when he fired the fatal shot because Dominguez was threatening to "crush his head with a rock," and that Corbett had made a split-second decision to act in self-defense, as he had been trained to do.

Now let me get this straight - the prosecution's chief witness against one of our nation's brave men defending and protecting our border against an invasion of drugs and people bent on violating our nation's sovereignty is the brother of the man who was shot while attacking this agent who has also violated our nation's sovereignty and is someone who stands to gain a whole lot of money through a resulting civil suit, even though he should have no right to do so as a criminal, if this border agent is convicted? What's wrong with this picture? -mm

Judge denies delay in Border Patrol agent's murder trial

By Brady McCombs

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

A trial for a U.S. Border Patrol agent charged with second-degree murder is set to begin as planned on Feb. 26 after a federal judge this week denied a request by the agent's lawyers to delay the proceedings.

On Jan. 2, agent Nicholas Corbett's attorney, Sean Chapman, formally requested at least two additional months to prepare for the trial. He cited difficulties in finding and consulting with experts and reviewing more than 1,000 pages of disclosure information from the state.

"The defense needs additional time, however, to consult with these experts prior to disclosure of their opinions," Chapman wrote in the request. "One expert in particular will likely not have a report available for at least a month, possibly more."

He said the prosecutors had been advised and didn't object.

But on Monday, without citing reasons, U.S. District Judge David C. Bury denied the motion. That means Corbett, 40, is set to stand trial on charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide, starting at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 26, at the federal courthouse in Tucson.

The defense and prosecution said they will be ready for trial.

"We're aware of the judge's decision and we're going to be ready to try the case in February," said Chapman Tuesday.

Ramos, Compean pardons? 'No,' 'No,' says Bush rep

Spokesman won't allow questions to be asked

Posted: December 22, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

The White House apparently is so reluctant to discuss the issue of pardons or commutations for convicted U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean that a spokesman doesn't even want to allow questions about the issue to be finished.

The circumstances arose during a White House press gaggle with spokesman Tony Fratto, when Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House, tried to raise the issue of the disparity in the treatment of the Border Patrol agents, compared to that given Scooter Libby, an aide to Vice President Dick Cheney who was convicted of lying during an investigation into the outing of the identity of a covert U.S. agent.

The agents were convicted and given prison sentences of 11 and 12 years for shooting after a self-confessed drug smuggler fleeing back into Mexico after leaving 750 pounds of marijuana in Texas, while Libby was excused from serving any of his prison sentence through President Bush's intervention.

The White House repeatedly has said there is a pardons request procedure available to the agents, even though Libby apparently did not go through the same process before Bush acted.

Moonshiner, thieves, drug dealers get help

But Ramos, Compean abandoned in Bush pardons

Posted: December 13, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Carjackers, drug dealers, thieves and a moonshiner have been granted pardons this year by President Bush, but not Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who were convicted of firing their guns at a fleeing drug smuggler while they were protecting the integrity of the U.S. border with Mexico.

However, Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., says he is confident his resolution asking President Bush to commute the agents' sentences will pass easily with strong bipartisan support.

Delahunt told WND he plans to deliver to the White House a letter before Christmas, expressing his confidence his House Concurrent Resolution 267 will be approved when Congress reconvenes in January.

"In the letter we are going to express our hope the president will act immediately, not waiting for the House to pass the resolution," Delahunt said.

Bush urged to free ex-agents

December 7, 2007

By Jerry Seper and Sara Carter - President Bush should immediately commute the prison sentences of two former U.S. Border Patrol agents convicted in the shooting of a drug-smuggling suspect, says the chairman of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee.

Rep. Bill Delahunt, Massachusetts Democrat who heads the subcommittee on international organizations, human rights and oversight, said in a resolution yesterday the 11- and 12-year sentences for Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, respectively, were "profoundly disproportionate" based on federal sentencing guidelines.

Ramos, 37, and Compean, 28, were sentenced in October 2006 for shooting Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila in the buttocks in February 2005 when he was running from a van with 743 pounds of marijuana near Fabens, Texas.

Mr. Delahunt called the sentences "a miscarriage of justice," saying serious questions have been raised about the manner in which U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton in El Paso prosecuted the case.

He said the agents' supervisor, Border Patrol Sector Chief Luis Barker, described the sentences during Senate testimony as "disproportionate," and that Mr. Sutton has said, "Some say it's just too much time, and I have some sympathy for that."

"President Bush can correct a gross miscarriage of justice with the stroke of a pen," he said. "And this resolution will put Congress on record demanding that he do just that."

Another win for border agent who struck illegal

Reinstatement, back pay after sentence 'took away' 7 years of David Sipe's life

Posted: December 4, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi

© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Border Patrol Agent David Sipe scored another victory in his effort to prevent the U.S. Border Patrol from blocking his reinstatement with back pay to 2001.

A top-level panel of three U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board administrative law judges, including Chairman Neil A. G. McPhie, rejected a government petition Friday to review the panel's June decision in favor of Sipe.

As WND reported in June, Anna Love, an administrative judge with the Dallas Region of the Merit Systems Protection Board, ordered Sipe reinstated to his former Border Patrol position, with full back salary paid to April 21, 2001, the date the Border Patrol removed Sipe from his position and suspended his pay.

The decision Friday gave the Border Patrol 60 days to pay Sipe his back pay, interest, and benefits due.

Judge calls prosecuting ex-agents an overreaction

By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times

Article Launched: 12/04/2007 12:00:00 AM MST

Federal prosecutors may have overreacted in the case of two former El Paso Border Patrol agents convicted and sentenced to prison for shooting an admitted drug smuggler in the buttocks, an appeals court judge said Monday in New Orleans.

His comments renewed hopes that the agents' conviction would be overturned and gave more energy to a national movement working for their release.

Judge E. Grady Jolly, one of three judges from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing the case of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, questioned whether the two agents would have been charged if they had reported the shooting.

"For some reason, this one got out of hand, it seems to me," Jolly said of the agents' prosecution.

Jailed border agents plead for new trial

Running out of options, Ramos, Compean appealing conviction today in federal court

Posted: December 3, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi

© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

With their legal options running out, two agents for the U.S. Border Patrol serving jail sentences in connection with the shooting of a Mexican drug smuggler are appealing their convictions today in federal court.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans is hearing the appeal of agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, and the three-judge panel will typically issue a decision within four to six weeks of hearing the arguments.

A judgment in favor of Ramos and Compean could reverse their convictions and demand a new trial.

A reversal would be based on legal errors made by the prosecution and/or the judge at the trial court, not on a rehearing of the facts of the case.

If Ramos and Compean should lose the appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals, the last remaining level of judicial appeal is the U.S. Supreme Court, which may or may not decide to hear the case.

Agents' shooting appeal is today

By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times

Article Launched: 12/03/2007 12:18:01 AM MST

The terms of the immunity deal offered to a drug smuggler in 2005 will play a central part in both his case and the appeal by the two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting him.

The drug smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, testified under immunity for the U.S. attorney's office in 2006 in the case against El Paso Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean. The two agents shot Aldrete in the buttocks as he was running back to Mexico after a failed smuggling attempt near Fabens on Feb. 17, 2005.

Ramos and Compean were convicted of violating Aldrete's civil rights and of tampering with evidence because they did not report the shooting and because Compean picked up his shell casings.

Their appeal will be heard today by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

Rights 'denied' Ramos, Compean

Prosecution accused of misrepresenting facts in trial of border agents
Posted: November 30, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Briefs filed in an appeal seeking to overturn the prison sentences of convicted U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean allege the prosecution's star witness, drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, "had 5 million reasons" to lie.

WND has reported Aldrete-Davila hired a U.S. lawyer and sued the U.S. Border Patrol for $5 million for violating his civil rights in the shooting incident with Ramos and Compean at the border on Feb. 17, 2005.

"It is doubtful that absent the criminal conviction, Davila could overcome a defense motion for summary judgment based on qualified good faith immunity in his $5.0 million dollar civil law suit against the United States," the appellants' briefs commented.

"There are only three witnesses who testified whether Davila had anything in his left hand while he was running across the vega and turning back toward Compean: Davila, Compean and Ramos," the briefs continued.

"Davila, of course, fled and escaped," the briefs added. "Thus, the real truth will never be known whether he had something in his left hand as he turned around toward the agents."

"Davila had 5 million reasons to lie," the briefs concluded, "and was certainly prompted by his lifelong friend, Rene Sanchez, to seek immunity, obtain counsel and sue the United States."

Agent says smuggler tried to deliver drugs multiple times

By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times

Article Launched: 11/30/2007 12:00:00 AM MST

The day Osvaldo Aldrete Davila was shot in the buttocks while running back to Mexico in 2005 was not the last time he was chased by the Border Patrol and not the last time he delivered drugs in the United States that year, a witness said at a hearing Thursday.

Robert Holguin, a Drug Enforcement Administration special agent, testified that three men had identified Aldrete as a habitual drug smuggler.

Two of these men were referred to only as "Source 2," a drug smuggler, and "Source 3," a friend not involved in drug smuggling. They allegedly told DEA investigators that Aldrete tried, unsuccessfully, to smuggle marijuana on Sept. 24, 2005, and again, successfully, on Oct. 22, 2005.

"Davila's friend stated that Davila stated he was a transporter for a smuggling ring," Agent Holguin said during a bond hearing for Aldrete on Thursday.

According to Agent Holguin's sworn testimony, Aldrete continued to smuggle drugs, despite his medical condition and his deal with the U.S. government.

WND seeks lawsuit settlement information

Case involves fleeing drug smuggler shot by border patrol

Posted: November 29, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

WorldNetDaily is seeking government information about a lawsuit reportedly filed against the United States by a fleeing drug smuggler who was shot by a U.S. Border Patrol agent, whether that case was settled, and if so how much was paid out.

WND staff writer Jerome Corsi is preparing documents to submit to the U.S. Department of Justice requesting, under the federal Freedom of Information Act, "e-mails, memoranda, letters, or other documents relating to Osvalda Aldrete-Davila's obtaining of legal counsel, suing the U.S. Government, and obtaining a settlement from the U.S. Government on his legal suit involving a Feb. 17, 2005, incident involving Border Patrol Agents Ignacia Ramos and Jose Compean…"

The two officers now are serving federal prison terms of 11 and 12 years after Aldrete-Davila, under protection from the U.S. government, testified against them at trial after he was shot in the thigh by the agents as he ended a high-speed pursuit by the agents by abandoning his van and fleeing on foot back into Mexico.

The abandoned van held 750 pounds of marijuana, authorities reported.

Appeal contends border agents used deadly force justifiably

Ramos, Compean feared for their lives
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Convicted Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean are contending in an appeal of their prison sentences that their use of deadly force against a fleeing drug smuggler was justified because they believed he was armed and they feared for their lives.

WND already has reported the two allege they also were the victims of "overzealous" prosecution after their encounter with the drug smuggler in 2005.

The case revolved around the discharge of those shots, one of which injured Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, an illegal Mexican alien who was fleeing back into Mexico after smuggling 750 pounds of marijuana into the U.S, because without those shots on Feb. 17, 2005, there would have been no case.

The crux of the U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton's case, as presented by prosecutor Debra Kanof at trial, was to portray Aldrete-Davila as a victim, an innocent Mexican with no experience smuggling drugs who was pressed into this one incident because he lost his commercial driver's license in Mexico and needed money to buy medicine for his sick mother.

Aldrete-Davila's arrest and indictment for the Oct. 2005 "second load" strongly suggest this version of events is fanciful.

Mexican Drug Smuggler Shot by Border Agents Indicted on Drug Smuggling Charges

Fox News

Friday , November 16, 2007

EL PASO, Texas —

The arrest of an admitted Mexican drug smuggler shot by a pair of U.S. Border Patrol agents is prompting renewed calls for the former law-enforcement officials' release from prison.

Osvaldo Aldrete Davila was arrested Thursday at an international port of entry in El Paso; a sealed indictment issued in October charged him with drug smuggling offenses.

"These guys absolutely need to be pardoned," Rep. Tom Tancredo, R.-Colo., told FOX News on Friday.

The agents, Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos, were convicted last year of shooting Aldrete and lying about it. The agents were each sentenced to more than a decade in prison.

"This whole thing with Davila shows you how rotten the deal is they got," Tancredo said.

Border agent charged with murder

By EDUARDO MONTES, Associated Press Writer
Mon Apr 23, 8:29 PM ET
A Border Patrol agent was charged Monday with first-degree murder in the shooting of an unarmed illegal immigrant at the border in January.
The shooting, which drew condemnation from the Mexican government, occurred while Corbett was trying to apprehend Dominguez-Rivera and three others who were trying to enter the country illegally.
In the days after the shooting, the Border Patrol said that a scuffle had led to it and that the agent had "feared for his life."
More than 300 pages of documents later released by prosecutors revealed that Corbett's account didn't match witness testimony or forensic evidence.
Corbett told colleagues he shot at a man who looked like he was going to throw a rock.
But three witnesses who were being apprehended along with Dominguez-Rivera — his two brothers and a sister-in-law — told investigators Corbett fired while pushing Dominguez-Rivera to the ground.

The witnesses are not only also illegally in the country but they are related to the man who was shot and our judicial system is siding with them over the border patrol. They would say anything to keep from being persecuted and perhaps win a huge civil settlement. Unbelievable! -mm

Lawsuit targets police inaction on immigration

By Jessie Mangaliman
MEDIANEWS STAFF
Article Launched: 04/06/2007 03:16:37 AM PDT

Amid a national debate over whether local police should help enforce immigration rules, a lawsuit is charging San Jose and Police Chief Rob Davis with failing to report suspected illegal immigrants to federal authorities -- a practice that the suit alleges is itself against the law.

The suit, filed by an Orange County attorney and activist, challenges a practice that San Jose and many other police departments openly acknowledge.

If police were to pursue the immigration status of suspects, victims and witnesses, Davis has said, they would violate the trust of immigrant communities that they need to do their jobs.

But attorney David Klehm echoes the argument of federal officials who have asked police departments around the country to take a more active stance: Illegal immigrants who are arrested ought to be deported, rather than being "recycled" through the U.S. criminal justice system.

_____

No `politics of fear' in S.J.
RELIGIOUS, CITY LEADERS TAKE STAND ON IMMIGRATION RAIDS
By Brandon Bailey
Mercury News
Article Launched: 04/07/2007 01:37:27 AM PDT

A group of religious and political leaders vowed their support Friday for the San Jose Police Department's hands-off policy on immigration enforcement, adding that a recent lawsuit should not make residents wary of encounters with local officials.

"We won't enforce the politics of fear with our local police department," said San Jose's Vice Mayor Dave Cortese at a news conference outside City Hall.

Here's a little message from the Apostle Paul for all those "religious leaders" who are whining about the police actually enforcing the law:

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. Rom 13:1-3 NIV
-mm

Illegals get $100,000 in damage lawsuit

Sheriff: 'I don't believe criminals are entitled to compensation'
Posted: April 4, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

A damage lawsuit brought by two illegal aliens injured by shell fragments when Deputy Gilmer Hernandez shot at the tires of the van in which they escaped from a routine traffic stop has been settled for $100,000, but the sheriff is unhappy any payment was made.

Sheriff Don G. Letsinger of Rocksprings, Texas, has confirmed to WND that the lawsuit brought by Maricela Rodriquez-Garcia and Candio Garcia-Perez, the two illegal immigrants who were injured, has been settled.

The $100,000 figure had been recommended by the West Texas Rural Counties Association, an insurance pool that will pay the settlement, as a result of a mediation meeting held in Austin, Texas.

The plaintiffs had planned to sue Hernandez and Letsinger individually, as well as in their official positions, plus Edwards County, where both worked.

Letsinger told WND that the West Texas Rural Counties Association advice in the mediation meeting was to accept the $100,000 settlement because that amount would equal the cost of litigation. But it was far from the $1.5 million Rodriquez-Garcia and Garcia-Perez demanded initially.

Drug suspect named in Ramos-Compean case

Ortiz-Hernandez accused of providing 'stash house' for shipments

Posted: April 3, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi

© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

The federal government has obtained an indictment against Cipriano Ortiz-Hernandez for drugs found in his safe-house in October 2005, but still has failed to pursue action against Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, the drug smuggler in the Ramos-Compean case, who reportedly delivered those drugs to the safe-house, according to documents WND has obtained.

Ortiz-Hernandez has been named in a federal drug indictment that alleges federal agents discovered about 5,000 pounds of marijuana at his house over a period of several visits from March 2004 to October 2005. But Aldrete-Davila, who made that 750-pound delivery on Oct. 23, isn't being pursued, apparently because of the immunity U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton gave him for an earlier smuggling operation when he unsuccessfully brought a van load of drugs into the U.S., documents indicate.

"This shows that Ortiz-Hernandez was a major drug dealer," Joe Loya, father-in-law of Agent Ignacio Ramos, told WND. "It also should prove that Aldrete-Davila lied on the stand in the Ramos and Compean case when he said he was an amateur who only did this one offense because his mother was sick and he needed to buy her medicine he could not afford. Aldrete-Davila's story is lie, after lie, after lie. He crossed the border and drove the second load directly to Ortiz-Hernandez's home."