Members Of Congress Lashed Out At President Bush Over Inaction In Border Patrol Agent Case
DOBBS: It's being called an outrage, a miscarriage of justice, former border patrol agents Compean and Ramos in federal custody tonight, going to prison for doing their duty. Joining me now three of the congressmen who are trying to support these gentlemen. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, Congressman Brian Bilbray, both from California, Congressman Ted Poe of Texas, former prosecutor and judge. He's called this one of the most egregious miscarriages of justice he's ever seen. Gentlemen, good to have you here. I have to say, I don't recall a time when congressional members of the sitting president's party have ever been so direct and so critical of that president. Congressman Rohrabacher, can you remember such a time?</s>ROHRABACHER: I don't remember any such time, but I don't remember where there was ever a time when the president of the United States was so out of sync with the national security interests of the American people. And his policies are so wrongheaded that we end up putting the border patrol agents in such a horrible situation that now, what we find is these two border patrol agents who are heroes, putting their lives on the line for us, end up being charged with a crime while the drug dealer goes free. So, I don't ever remember a presidency as out of sync as this one.</s>DOBBS: Congressman Bilbray, what have you heard from your constituents? What is their thinking as they watch a president, as you gentlemen put it, just arrogantly ignore members of his own party -- congressmen in the House of Representatives, ignoring your entreaties, your letters, not responding in any way?</s>BILBRAY: Well, I was born and raised along the border and I guess the frustration is the administration, from the bottom up, just does not understand how out of control and violent the border is, the kind of environment that we're asking border patrolmen to work on. Anybody that looks at the murder rate in Tijuana understands that law enforcement is being killed all along this frontier. And to sit there and second-guess people in a violent area and remember that this was an area where there was a major firefight with assault weapons not too long ago.</s>DOBBS: Right.</s>BILBRAY: And all I say is that Mr. President, if you're going consider Mr. Kennedy's amnesty for 12 million illegal aliens, couldn't you just add two more border patrol agents onto that list?</s>DOBBS: Congressman Poe, Texan, judge, prosecutor, you have watched this unfold in Texas and a number of viewers have said, you know, shame on Texas for permitting this. How do you react?</s>POE: Well, it is a bad situation that has occurred in our state. The border is out of control. The border agents did their job. The federal government chose to believe the drug dealer and prosecute the border agents. 30,000 Texans have asked the president through petitions to pardon these individuals. Total number in the United States is almost 250,000 people have signed petitions asking the president pardon them. We want the president to do that. He's pardoned people in the past, over 100 people, some of those are drug offenders. And why not a pardon of two people, border agents? It will send a message, not only to the border patrol that we'll support you, but it will send a message to the drug dealers, don't bring drugs to the United States.</s>DOBBS: Don't bring drugs to the United States.</s>BILBRAY: Lou, Lou...</s>DOBBS: I'm sorry, go ahead.</s>BILBRAY: ... Lou, we're talking about a message that says that we're going to punish border patrol agents for trying to defend it. But then, we're also sending the message that if your drug smuggler, if you broke the law, you will not only get amnesty and protection, you can make up to $5 million by suing the people. I mean, the signal and the message sent around the world is scary. This is not the American signal that we want to send. This is not the way we defend our borders.</s>ROHRABACHER: And the White House now is vilifying these two border patrol agents. The message coming out of the White House now is Ramos and Compean are really terrible human beings. These are heroic individuals. One of them was up to be border patrol agent of the year right before this incident happened. If we care about our country, we have to control our borders. You know that, Lou. Everybody out that knows that. These agents have been put in a horrible situation because this president has some kind of a policy that we don't know about that, I believe it's an open border policy and it's untenable.</s>DOBBS: It's untenable, this issue is also a metaphor for, as you both, as you all have suggested. We're now approaching six months this year from September 11. The fact that that border is still, as you say, it is a battle zone across much of its breadth.</s>ROHRABACHER: I wish it was a battle zone, Lou, because you know what, that would mean we were fighting back. The policy of this administration, people have to understand this, and the reason these two border patrol agents are in trouble, is that they should not fire their weapons until they are fired upon, which means there is no control of the borders whatsoever. No one will ever stop for a border patrol agents. That tells all the drug dealers and terrorists around the world that our border in the southern part of the United States is open.</s>DOBBS: Fifty-five congressmen sending a letter to the president on behalf of these agents. The idea that this president would not even respond, that none of his senior staff would respond, that Tony Snow, his White House spokesmen referred to your suggestion as nonsensical, is this, for each of you, is this a break with this president?</s>POE: Well, we'd think that when 55 members of Congress ask for a specific thing to occur from the administration, we'd at least get an answer. Even a no would be fine. We've had follow-up phone calls, follow-up letters and we have received no communication from the White House about this request. And we wonder why we haven't even received correspondence in the form of a no. So it is concerning that there is a big disconnect between what occurs in Congress and what members of Congress are asking questions about and an answer from the administration.</s>BILBRAY: Lou, it's hard to get the message across to anybody in Washington about the conditions along the border. But the administration just needs friends that are willing to be persistent at opening their eyes to the reality of the situation.</s>ROHRABACHER: I'm going to disagree with you, Brian. I think this president knows darn well what's going on down at the border. He just has a policy that we don't know about. Maybe it's an unstated policy that's an open border policy. He knows what's going on down there, Brian, but now that puts the Border Patrol in a totally untenable situation where they have to -- what, if the president says you can have an open border, that puts them on the line and now they try to enforce the law and they end up putting the Border Patrol agents in jail.</s>DOBBS: You gentlemen have described this as a betrayal by the president of these agents, and the responsibility to secure that border. The lack of response -- I couldn't help but think, to tell it the truth, Congressmen, as you were talking about the lack of response from this White House, that you've just conveyed a feeling that is felt, according to our audience, by millions and millions of Americans in this country who feel they're just not -- their will is not being represented at all in Washington,</s>D.C. ROHRABACHER: I used to call the White House during the Clinton years and I would get a call back from high level administration officials or the president himself would call me a number of times. This president doesn't return calls and underlings, way down the line, return the calls of elected Congressmen. That's arrogance.</s>DOBBS: Well, gentlemen, thank you for taking up this cause and we wish you, obviously, all of the luck in the world.</s>BILBRAY: Thank you, and let's hope that it all works out for the agents and for Americans.</s>ROHRABACHER: Absolutely.</s>POE: Thank you, Lou.</s>DOBBS: Thank you, gentlemen. A reminder now to vote in our poll. Do you believe President Bush should be ashamed, as Congressmen Rohrabacher charged -- should he ashamed for failing to pardon these Border Patrol agents? Yes or no? Cast your vote at LouDobbs.com. Up next, new resistance to the construction of a border fence along our southern border. Will that fence ever be built? One of the men responsible for offering that fence legislation, and one of the men whose chances to become president of the United States just improved markedly, will be our guest here next. And President Bush under siege tonight from Democrats and some Republicans for his actions in Iraq and his inaction in this country. Three of the country's smartest political minds join me: Ed Rollins, Errol Louis, Robert Zimmerman. Stay with us.