EDITORIAL - We all remember the two Border Patrol agents who were prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced for shooting an illegal alien drug dealer. While those two agents are serving prison sentences, the real villain in the case is suddenly back in the news.

The drug smuggler who was shot while evading Border Patrol agents was recently arrested in Texas for–you’ll never guess–smuggling drugs. His carelessness is understandable, however. The immunity granted him when he testified against the Border Patrol agents allowed him to continue to smuggle drugs with the endorsement of the Justice Department.

To reveiw, on 17 February 2005, Border Patrol agents Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos observed a van illegally crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico into Texas, near the town of Fabens, 40 miles east of El Paso. The agents attempted to halt the van, but the driver failed to yield, and fled at high speed. They pursued and the chase ended when the van crashed.

The van’s driver, Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, then fled on foot, ignoring orders by the officers to stop. Compean finally caught Davila and attempted to apprehend him. Davila forcefully resisted and, Compean testified, brandished a handgun. Compean attempted to disarm the law breaker. A struggle ensued, Davila broke free, and Compean fired at the fleeing felon. Compean’s partner Ramos fired and wounded the suspect, who nevertheless escaped back into Mexico.

The agents subsequently discovered the van contained 742 pounds of marijuana, making Davila a drug-smuggling illegal alien. However, Davila was not brought up on charges. Rather, the two Border Patrol agents were charged with firearms and civil rights violations as well as assault and falsifying reports pertaining to the incident. Compean and Ramos admitted to firing their weapons at a suspect they believed to be armed and a threat to their lives. They also admitted that they did not file a report on the incident, but Border Patrol policy does not require them to do so if the incident is orally reported. Compean and Ramos complied with this regulation.

U. S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, for the Western District of Texas, didn’t believe the officers were in danger, nor that they believed they were in danger. Sutton believed that the suspect was unarmed. His source for this key piece of information was the person most likely to know, and least likely to tell the truth about it–the drug smuggling, arrest-resisting, illegal alien. Davila had already admitted he had been smuggling drugs across the U. S. border. But under immunity from prosecution offered by Sutton, Davila insisted that he had been unarmed. Evidently, the jury was convinced that a man who blatantly violated our nation’s immigration, vehicular, drug and other criminal laws nonetheless scrupulously observed our firearms regulations.

Under the terms of his immunity, which lasted several months, Davila was allowed to cross the border at will, in both directions. During this time, he continued to smuggle drugs, and even made one delivery while waiting to testify at trial. He was not prosecuted for any of these crimes.

Agents Compean and Ramos were found guilty and are serving eleven and twelve year prison terms, respectively. They have been the targets of brutal beatings by other inmates, and have been placed in solitary confinement for their own protection. Congressmen Dana Rohrabacker and Duncan Hunter, as well as Senator Diane Feinstein, protested the sentences. Davila the drug-smuggling illegal alien went free, with the thanks of a grateful Texas prosecutor, who also picked up the expenses for his trip,

Davila can be forgiven for believing that the look-the-other-way policy of American authorities, provided by U. S. Attorney Sutton’s generous, criminally-enabling immunity, would continue to protect him. However, that immunity expired with the conviction of the officers, so Davila has been working without a net since late 2005. Last Thursday, he took a hard fall.

Regarding Compean and Ramos, it is now clear that they intercepted an intruder on American soil, attempted to arrest and disarm him, fired at him in self-defense, and even scored a hit on a moving target. If nothing else, the agents are demonstrably good judges of character. The man they stopped, fought with and risked their lives to apprehend is a career drug smuggler undeterred by his painful, fleeting and, by all indications, profitable brush with American justice.

If either Compean or Ramos had been a better marksman, Davila would be dead, several further drug shipments would have been prevented, the costs of a controversial kangaroo court trial would have been saved, and two Border Patrol agents who demonstrated courage, initiative and good judgment would still be on the job. One could argue that any person entering this country illegally and intending to commit further serious crimes while here would have more than earned the lead fusillade that Davila received.

If Davila had been justifiably killed or successfully apprehended, and had the dutiful actions of the Border Patrol agents been commended rather than prosecuted, further benefits would have accrued.

To the extent that Davila’s associates in the cross-border drug trade had learned of his fate, the incident might have had a deterrent effect on their activities. Certainly the reverse is true when Davila returns from an unsuccessful drug incursion and is compensated by the United States with immunity from prosecution for his crimes and a Get-Out-Of-Mexico-Free card that enabled him to continue his drug smuggling unmolested by the law.

If Davila were incarcerated or killed in the line of felony, then young Americans might still be interested in serving on the Border Patrol, rather than being discouraged by the outrageous treatment of agents Compean and Ramos. Now actor Chuck Norris appears in broadcast enlistment appeals, encouraging those who wish to serve their country to consider the Border Patrol. Norris is a sincere, popular celebrity with a sturdy law and order image from his show "Walker–Texas Ranger." But not even Chuck Norris can convince our young people to risk their lives when the Justice Department takes the word of criminals over our own agents.

New Attorney General Michael Mukasey was grilled by Senate Democrats on whether or not he would be free of White House influence. Here’s his chance to show his independent streak. Let Mukasy give Compean and Ramos front-row seats at Davila’s trial, let them testify to Davila’s criminal past, and then suspend their sentences. Let these law enforcement agents go home to their families and send Davila to jail for a decade or two.

Then maybe we can go back to calling it the "Justice" Department.