Border Patrol Agent Diaz gets two years prison for handcuffing illegal alien
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Kimberly Dvorak
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Border Patrol Agent Diaz gets two years prison for handcuffing illegal alien
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by Kimberly Dvorak – Homeland Security Examiner – October 24, 2011
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Border Patrol Agent Jesus “Chito” Diaz received a two-year prison sentence for mishandling his handcuffs on a known-illegal alien drug smuggler. He was charged by the Obama Administration Justice Department using the vague “civil rights” strategy and was convicted last week of lifting the arms of a prisoner while handcuffed.
According to the Law Enforcement Officers Advocates Council, the government’s case is based on false testimony that is contradicted by the facts. This includes the charge that Agent Diaz was physically abusive to the then minor “MBE” as noted by court documents and transcripts that Diaz allegedly put his knee on his back and pulled back on his handcuffs.
“However, given the time of day during the incident, October 16, 2008 at about 2 a.m. and lack of lighting it would be impossible to have actually seen much if anything. The agent who stood next to Mr. Diaz, Marco Ramos testified that he did not see anything that was claimed to have taken place,” Andy Ramirez, president of LEOAC explained. “Other witnesses made claims that were contradictory amongst each other, and some later admitted in court to having perjured themselves, including Gabriel Lerma. Such admissions were ignored by the court and government who continued the prosecution having filed charges against Mr. Diaz for lying to investigators.”
Despite the explanations, the Mexican Consulate pushed for charges against the Border Patrol agent. They contend the Mexican drug smuggler, a minor when he was arrested, was hit several times. The Mexican government also states the beatings continued because the drug smuggler could not give agents the name of his boss. The young drug smuggler also claimed the Border Patrol agent threatened him with continued violence until he provided agents with the name of his boss.
All these claims were disputed by Agent Diaz.
“The doper claimed he suffered no injuries during his testimony during the trial. He was sore from his shoulders. However, that was due to the weight of the drug load, approximately 75 pounds that he carried across the border. There were two dopers apprehended during the incident and 150 pounds total drugs seized. The court sealed the pictures of the doper, which would corroborate the defense that there were neither injuries received or bruising to his lower arms where the handcuffs were placed nor any bruising resulting from the alleged knee on his back. The only marks on his body came from the straps of the pack he carried containing the drugs,” Ramirez said.
Family member’s reaction to the harsh verdict turned to fear for “Chito’s” life as law enforcement officers are often prime targets for prison violence.
“I am coping with the fact that he could potentially be home in six months for good behavior,” said Diana Guadarrama Diaz, wife of Agent Diaz. “I am still angry and scared. Anything can happen inside prison walls.”
The perplexing conviction of a Border Patrol agent for handcuff abuse is certain to have a chilling effect for those agents in the field who encounter drug smugglers every day.
DOJ remains under fire for the weapons it let “walk” under Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF’s) Fast and Furious program. That failed program lead to the unsolved murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry (BP Agent Robert Rosas was killed on duty in California by drug smugglers- two individuals have been incarcerated for the murder of Rosas, but others remain at large) and the murder of Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agent Jaime Zapata. These murders remain clear memories for agents arresting the barrage of drug smugglers that continue to cross the U.S./Mexico border.
“I think this case will not only affect Border Patrol agents, but all law enforcement officers whose job requires that they use handcuffs,” Mrs. Diaz explained. “It is rulings like these that give the drug cartels the power to run amok. How can a law enforcement officer do their job when they handcuff the individual for their own safety…?
She explains the looming threat of potentially violating suspect drug smugglers’ civil rights because handcuffing can cause pain is unfounded. “What’s next? Will law enforcement be banned from talking to people? It’s no wonder cartels don’t respect U.S. law enforcement. During sentencing, the judge said just because you have a badge and gun doesn’t give you the right to violate a drug smugglers rights.”
As for “Chito,” he only needs to look back to the Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean case. The two Border Patrol Agents were arrested after chasing a fleeing illegal drug smuggler who was eventually shot in the butt. The Attorney General on the case, Johnny Sutton, went over and beyond his prosecution guidelines and the two agents were sentenced to prison. The public outcry was swift and loud. Talk radio refused to let the injustice stand, and after numerous Congressmen and Senator complaints, the two Border Patrol Agents had their prison sentences commuted by outgoing President George Bush.
“This case, unlike that one, is completely clean – defense wise. Judge directed him to apologize to the victim (not present), the nation, fellow BP Agents, his family… He refused and maintained silence,” Ramirez said. “The judge ignored numerous admissions by their own witnesses of perjury. Word is the government did not want this case sitting out there being campaigned on during the 2012 election cycle, so that Holder/DOJ leaned on the judge.”
Like the Ramos and Compean case, talk radio has picked-up the torch and family members are hopeful “Chito’s” name will be cleared. “We believe we can clear Agent Diaz’ name given the facts in this case and contradictory statements by the ‘star witnesses,’” Ramirez said.
“While the sentence was light compared to what it could have been, Agent Diaz is a hero and this case should have never gone forward even at an administrative level against Chito, which was recommended by the Office of Professional Responsibility to CBP Internal Affairs. Chito was cleared previously by the Office of Inspector General and OPR regarding prosecution. So how this became a criminal case demands intense scrutiny and oversight. It should have been prosecuted against the dopers, and since then, those star witnesses who perjured themselves. Where is the justice in this case? Once again, our government is far more concerned with the so-called rights of criminal illegal-alien dopers than our agents who continue to be prosecuted for doing their job. Congress needs to investigate this case and the pattern of misconduct and abuse that has resulted in an innocent agent going to prison yet again,” concluded Ramirez.
The kicker is the appeal will be heard before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, LA, the same court as the Ramos/Compean cases. So far there is no date for the hearing and experts say it will most likely take three years to reach a judge.
In the meantime, the Diaz family will try to live as normal a life as possible, grocery shopping, getting the children to and from school, homework and praying their father will come home safely.
© Copyright 2011 Kimberly Dvorak All Rights Reserved.
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October 27th, 2011 at 1:14 pm
Following up, there is this from Glenn Beck’s sphere -
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/treasonous-in-its-actions-on-the-border-becks-passionate-interview-with-imprisoned-border-agents-wife/
Salute!
Elias
November 20th, 2011 at 5:04 am
This is one of the cases that give our justice system a bad reputation and deservedly true in this case. This should never have come to trial, let alone a sentence as harsh as he received. It just proves further where Obama’s sympathies lie. Drugs brought in by illegals will continue unabated until he is no longer in the White House. This is a perfect example of why so many young individuals pursue this activity as their chosen career. They know that if caught one of the liberal organizations will step in for poor little Bill, Juan, Chico, or Bobby. We need the likes of Sheriff Joe Arpaio running the Border Patrol and dealing with those who continually bring contraband into our country and keep making return trips.It must stop and the ease of access be forever closed. Obama is a sympathizer for every issue or persons whom are a threat to our Constitution and our safety. I pray his successor recognizes this and corrects it rather than forgetting it.
November 20th, 2011 at 7:28 am
Actually, it is my opinion that Obama prefers to use the force of the government to harass Americans on this side of the border, especially those in States which have declared their autonomy and freedom by legalizing medical marijuana – despite what the Liar in Chief said during his campaign. Officer Diaz is one tiny example of a much larger problem – his fate is but a symbol of a harsh evil which operates behind the mask of the U.S. government these days. I will now take you on a little rant which I hope will cause readers here to reflect a bit deeper into the problem.
Kathryn, here is a very simple (and related) truth – there would be no smuggling of marijuana across any border or State line if we decriminalized marijuana. There is only a market for marijuana when it is illegal. Take away the prohibition of marijuana and instantly the profit in selling marijuana vaporizes, leaving the drug-cartels and gangs no reason or purpose in smuggling the stuff. That is the wisdom in decriminalization, but too many well-meaning Americans have difficulty seeing that.
Government corruption under the Obama administration has increased (if that’s even possible after two Bush and one Clinton administrations) and now we have discovered that the American banks have been laundering the Mexican drug cartel cash (more than $378 billion laundered by Wachovia alone) at the same time the ATF is smuggling the guns across the border to arm the Mexican cartels being serviced by our banks. On both counts, there have been no indictments – for instance, Holder, having been caught lying under Oath, is only threatened with forced resignation; and Wachovia, having admitted to laundering that many billions of drug cartel money, was fined, paid the fine, and no body went to jail. Yet one BP agent gets physical with a smuggler and he gets two years?
The absurdity is actually much deeper than that, and we now know that the U.S. government itself is behind the drug dealing internationally and especially the importation of drugs into America. The CIA has been required by Congress to investigate its drug dealing activities – twice. Federal government has to have a war on drugs to fund the Black Budget and expand the police state. Were drugs declared to be “legal” tomorrow, the U.S. government’s police state apparatus would fall on its face overnight.
Most American “conservatives” do not like to hear these facts, because most conservatives think that the only answer to what their neighbor chooses to smoke, eat, and drink is to threaten their neighbor with the force and might of the government – and that is the deadly mistake that the Christian Right (for the most part, with some intelligent exceptions) makes. That belief, that we must turn to, and empower, government to control our neighbors who smoke the weed, has largely brought about the infrastructure of the police state and has directly damaged the Constitution, as well as creating huge profits for criminals and gangs and rogue government agencies like DEA and ATF etc. What these Christian Right statists do not realize is that once they’ve destroyed the protections in our Constitution for the individual citizen, this nation will fall into the one-world government and that one-world government shall most assuredly outlaw Christianity. (One of the most remarkable exceptions to the Christian Right’s blindness on this point is Dr. Chuck Baldwin, who fully gets it and speaks out about it. If the Christian community would only listen to him and heed his message, they would stop supporting this insane war on drugs, which by so doing would put an end to drug smuggling across our border with Mexico overnight. What is more, to end the war on drugs would also diminish the police state apparatus, revive some degree of freedom in America, and expose huge corruption in WDC. Under such a scenario Officer Diaz and other BP agents would not be in jail or otherwise abused by this government.
It’s a hard pill to swallow, for everything the media has preached for forty years or more reinforces the government’s desire to use the war on drugs to grow itself into un-Constitutional authority and power, and non-thinking pulpits have joined in unwittingly, with shallow analysis in their fervor, to support the travesty. But Christianity is going to sooner or later have to recognize the truth about (and behind) the so-called war on drugs.
And Obama? He is just another puppet dancing on the end of strings held by those who drive government and media and organized crime. Put a Gingrich or a Cain or a (I shudder to even type the name) McCain in office and nothing will change. Put a Constitution-minded moral man of honor and integrity in the White House and there will suddenly be no more drug smuggling. I say this because without the built-in profit provided by the laws against marijuana, there is no incentive to cause anyone to smuggle the stuff.
Thanks for wading through my mini-rant on this subject. And thank you for being a true American willing to face the truth, even if truth comes as a surprise to what we’ve always thought.
Salute!
Elias