A Mexican drug smuggler sneaks across the U.S. border carrying 743 pounds of marijuana in his van. He’s confronted by two U.S. Border Patrol agents who order him to stop. After a scuffle with one of the agents, the drug smuggler abandons the van and takes off. The agents give chase and shots are fired. The smuggler runs for the border but is wounded in the buttocks before escaping to the safety of Mexico. Sounds like a typical day along the U.S.-Mexico border, right? Give the agents a commendation, maybe a pay raise.

But that’s not what happened to the agents. In what makes me think we’ve slipped into some parallel universe where everything is backwards, the agents are arrested and charged with felonies including violating the drug smuggler’s civil rights. It seems a Homeland Security agent heard about the episode, went to Mexico and offered the drug smuggler immunity if he testified against the agents. The drug smuggler was treated at taxpayer’s expense in a U.S. hospital and told he can sue the U.S. government.

You see, our Border Patrol policy prohibits chasing terrorists, drug smugglers or anyone crossing illegally into this country and who are fleeing. And our courts have ruled that it’s illegal to shoot a suspect who is running away if he is unarmed. To do so violates the suspect’s civil rights. Never mind that the agents believed him to be armed and that, when interviewed shortly after the incident, his family said that, yes, he’s a drug smuggler and, yes, he always carries a gun. He now knows to claim he was unarmed in order to sue the U.S. Border Patrol for $5 million for violating his civil rights!

The agents? They’ve been sentenced to 11 and 12 years in federal prison under a rule of law that requires a mandatory minimum 10 years if a firearm was used while committing a violent crime. The crime? Assault with a dangerous weapon, discharge of a firearm during a violent crime, obstructing justice, lying about the incident (The agents failed to file a report stating that they had fired their weapons, and one of them picked up his spent shell casings) and willfully violating the drug smuggler’s Fourth Amendment right to be free from illegal seizure.

Sounds preposterous, I know, but that’s what happened. Congress won’t intervene and President Bush has refused thus far to grant a pardon for the agents. I can’t fathom U.S. policy concerning border security. Agents are apparently there to “patrol” but can’t “chase” bad guys (without first getting permission from a supervisor.) Oh, and don’t use their guns. They can yell, “Shoo! Shoo!” and can apparently send bad guys back across the border if they voluntarily surrender, but it sounds like that’s about it.

I’ve provided links to two articles you should read. The first is an article by Debra Saunders for the SF Chronicle. The second is an October 20 article in WorldNetDaily. What’s been done to these two agents is a serious miscarriage of justice and we need to let our elected officials know we won’t stand for it.

What’s going on along our border is wrong on every level and our government has shown absolutely no interest in fixing the problem. Want something done? Write or email ALL your elected officials including the President. Keep writing. Demand justice for the two agents and that the border be protected. Pay attention to which officials turn a deaf ear and vote them out of office!