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Lou Dobbs Interview With Nacho Ramos & Jose Compean
March 27th, 2007 
Posted in Border News, Ramos / Compean
The following is a transcript of a phone interview that CNN Anchor Lou Dobbs
conducted withRamos.
LOU DOBBS: How are you feeling?
IGNACIO RAMOS: I’m hanging in there, you know. As best I can.
DOBBS: How are they treating you?
RAMOS: Not bad, you know? They give me my meals, they take care of me, I guess, as best
they can.
DOBBS: How much time do you have each day to — to be in the general population?
Are you at all in the general population?
RAMOS: No, I’m kept in isolation. That’s where I spend all my time.
Pretty much I spend a lot of time reading. I exercise a little bit, and I read a lot of the letters
that I still continue to get, which has been great. They have been a great morale booster, and
definitely been able to help me keep things in perspective.
DOBBS: Well, I’m glad you’re getting that support. I know that’s important for all of us. In your
circumstance, even more so than the rest of us, more so, I imagine, than we can even begin
to understand.
Do you feel like talking about a few things to deal with the prison life?
RAMOS: Sure.
DOBBS: Do you — first, is everybody being cordial to you, are they being professional, or — how
do you feel you’re being treated?
RAMOS: You mean, as far as the guards go?
DOBBS: Right.
RAMOS: I would say the majority of the guards have been very good, you know; yes, very
professional. Some guards, you know, whether they know who I am or don’t, I would say they are
professional, but they would just — they pretty much just go about their business, you know.
Probably just like I’m another inmate. But some, I would say that — I wouldn’t say they’ve gone out
of their way, but the ones that do know who I am have taken a little bit more time, have talked to
me and have given me their support, and wished me well and offered me their support and their best.
And definitely some have told me that, you know, they really don’t see how I should be here
and don’t deserve to be here at all.
DOBBS: Well, there are millions of people who agree with that view.
Let me ask you a few questions about the prosecution: have you got a sense as to why the U.S.
attorney prosecuted you and Compeon so vigorously?
RAMOS: You know, from the very beginning, we’ve asked ourselves — you know, my family and
I — that from the very beginning, why they’ve come after us so hard and, you know, with all the
letters and stuff that I’ve received — obviously many stories and clippings and news stories now
about why they think they came after us so hard.
But you know, it’s still a real big mystery to me. I mean, if you go on a lot of the stuff that
I’ve heard, it’s incredible. And I really hope a lot of that’s not true. But it’s still — just the basic fact
that what it comes down to, taking the word of a drug smuggler, period, over us is just incredible
enough to make this, you know, just — make us all just flabbergasted about the whole thing, because
you know, I just — I’ve done this for ten years and I remember a lot of the words that were said
during the trial, and to say that he had plenty of credibility or what he did didn’t hurt his credibility
was just incredible.
DOBBS: Let me ask you — let’s go back to the day of the shooting: when you’re following the
van — the van you followed, did you have any sense that there were drugs in it?
RAMOS: I had a pretty good sense, I mean, like I said, I had done this for the last ten years
and the fact that the person that was driving this van didn’t yield to, at the time, Agent Juarez, who
first encountered the van, and then didn’t yield to me, once I got behind it, pretty much gave us a
good indication that at that time, yes, 99 percent chance that he was carrying narcotics in the van.
I mean, that’s just the way things worked out there.
DOBBS: You said, when you were down in the ditch and you were pursuing the suspect, or
the witness, as it turns out, that you heard shots fired. What did you think was going on?
RAMOS: Well obviously, some type of altercation. and if there are shots being fired, I have
to assume that, you know, in this case that it’s the smugglers shooting at the other agent, and I
knew that Agent Compeon was by himself, you know, because he was the only one standing
between him and the smugglers’ freedom to Mexico at the time.
So there was — there was no other thought for me, other than he was in danger and he
was being shot at.
DOBBS: At what point did you fire at the suspect?
RAMOS: When he made a threatening motion to me, when he turned and pointed what I
believed was a gun to me. Had he never turned, you know, there would have been no shot. But
when I told him to stop, he turned and made a threatening motion to me, and that’s when I fired.
DOBBS: The prosecutor said you and Compeon failed to arrest the drug smuggler, and
that’s why they couldn’t charge him. Does that make any sense to you?
RAMOS: None at all. I mean, we tried our best to arrest him, that’s what we were doing.
Yet, during the trial, she chastised us for doing what we did and why we didn’t just let him go
home. That’s kind of incredible to hear, and I know I’ve heard it plenty of times, but I mean,
there’s plenty of things that put him on the scene. If they’re saying that I shot him, well, that
pretty much puts him there, you know.
DOBBS: Pretty conclusive.
RAMOS: I would say. I mean, they’re the ones that — they’re the ones saying that it’s my
bullet there, so I would say that puts him there 100 percent.
DOBBS: You’ve refused to do a plea deal with the prosecutor?
RAMOS: Yes, sir. Several times.
DOBBS: What did they offer you?
RAMOS: It started somewhere around five years, and I think the last time, it was for 18
months. But, there was just no way I was going to plead guilty to anything. I was doing my job.
I would — I didn’t do anything wrong. I was stopping a drug smuggler, like I had done the last
ten years. And plain and simple, I was going to make sure I went home, and do my best to make
sure Agent Compeon went home that day, no matter what.
DOBBS: How many times have you had to fire your weapon in the line of duty?
RAMOS: That made it the second time.
DOBBS: What happened the first time?
RAMOS: The first time, I had just over a year in the Border Patrol. I had just completed a
year. It was kind of the same situation: I was chasing a truck that carried almost 900 pounds of
marijuana. It broke through a steel pipe gate that we have there on the levee. And I chased the
smuggler all the way to the river. He managed to get all the way to the river. I was by myself
that day, however the people that helped load him up were on the Mexican side still, and he
yelled at them, and they had one person on the Mexican side with a rifle, and he started shooting
at me. And I returned fire that day.
DOBBS: As far as you know, you didn’t hit anyone?
RAMOS: No, not that I know of. I never heard anything about that.
DOBBS: Did you file a report on that?
RAMOS: Yes, because — that’s something the prosecution brought up, that I called it out
over the radio. But see, like I said that day in trial, I had no choice. I was completely by myself,
so I had to take the time to call for help that day. As I said in this trial, the reason I didn’t take
the time to call on the radio is because I knew I had at least four other agents behind, and I
expected them to at least get on the radio and call for help. If not, at least come through the
canal like I did and come help us. I expected that. And they didn’t come. Why they didn’t, I
don’t know; I couldn’t answer for them.
DOBBS: And that wasn’t brought — their answers weren’t offered at trial?
RAMOS: They didn’t ask them.
DOBBS: On this one, how many other agents and supervisors were there at the time of the
— you know, while you were there?
RAMOS: They arrived after the fact.
DOBBS: How much after?
RAMOS: Well, we kept an eye on the smuggler, I would say, a couple minutes, until he
was picked up by the — by a vehicle on the Mexican side, and he left. But, you know — it wasn’t
much after that, because they could hear all the radio traffic, so they must have been on their way
to the area, which is another thing they, you know, the prosecution, argued about about us — or,
me in particular, not saying anything on the radio. But of course, I had — I did, and they had to
have heard me, or else they wouldn’t know where we were.
But — so, it wasn’t — it wasn’t like ten or fifteen minutes after the fact that they got there.
They got there within a couple of minutes, if anything.
DOBBS: Do you feel those agents were supportive of you?
RAMOS: Which ones? The supervisors?
DOBBS: The supervisors and the other agents that were behind you.
RAMOS: Well, they were supportive to an extent. I think the agents that were behind me
could have, in retrospect, done a lot more. Like I said, I expected them to follow. I shouldn’t have
been the only one going through that canal to help Agent Compeon. They should have been right
behind me. At least, I think so.
As far as the supervisors, well, they’re management and they’re going to take their course
(ph), especially for a company like Mr. Richards, you know. I’ll pretty much leave that one alone.
DOBBS: The idea of picking up your brass — what made you do that?
RAMOS: I didn’t touch the brass at all.
DOBBS: But you knew Compeon was picking up his brass, right?
RAMOS: No, I didn’t.
DOBBS: You didn’t?
RAMOS: No. That’s — that’s what I testified to, I didn’t — and I didn’t see him. And that’s
— of course, the prosecution tried to place me, or put it that I knew and placed me at the time
that I saw him, or placed me at the scene where I did it as well. But I never saw him, I never
did it, and I never knew he did it.
DOBBS: How far were you from Compeon when you fired your shot?
RAMOS: Well I had ran past him, when I fired my shot. I would — I don’t recall what I had
testified to. I think I had said maybe twenty or thirty feet, maybe?
DOBBS: And how far was this drug smuggler, when you fired at him, from you?
RAMOS: I’d say twenty or twenty-five yards. Because he was almost by the river’s edge,
or quite near it.
DOBBS: That’s a helluva good shot.
RAMOS: I think it was pretty lucky — pretty unfortunate for me, actually.
DOBBS: I understand — making a bad joke.
RAMOS: No, I know.
DOBBS: The idea — do you hold out any hope for a pardon, either a congressional pardon
or a presidential pardon?
RAMOS: That’s kind of a tough one. I used to hold on for a presidential pardon. I think
if he was going to do it, he would have done it by now. I do hold out for a congressional pardon.
I think it’s incredible to see what these congressman are doing and what they’ve done. And even
though it’s slow — trust me, on my side it’s frustrating — but you know, it’s a small trickle effect,
but it grows. The support grows and grows. And as more people get on their congressman, you
know, I guess eventually they will listen to their constituency.
But you know, I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that it’s going to be a long battle,
and as far as — it’s probably going to have to go to — through the appeal process. I mean, it’s
already been a long battle, going on two years now. And unfortunately, I’m probably going to
have to sit in here, waiting for the conclusion.
But you know, I try and stay headstrong and keep the faith.
DOBBS: Good for you.
What did your attorneys tell you about having to go to prison during the appeal process?
Did you think you would have to?
RAMOS: Well, you know, we really held out a lot of hope — we really held a lot of hope
that we wouldn’t have to. We really thought there was no reason to, especially that we had
been let out on bond all this time, especially since the conviction. And after we were denied
the first bond from the first judge, we really thought the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals would
reverse it. And it was really disappointing to hear that they denied it as well.
So, especially when they came back with a pretty much one line sentence that they said
there was no extraordinary circumstances. I mean, it’s not every day, you know, almost a
hundred congressmen get behind you and stand by you for your case. So that was pretty shocking.
But you know, they made their decision and so here I am. But you know, it’s been — don’t
get me wrong, it’s been tough to deal with, trying to keep in touch with my wife only through
letters. You know, being in isolation, I can only have one call every thirty days. That’s the only
reason I chose population that first time around — I didn’t want to be completely cut off from my
family any more than what I was already going to be.
So it’s been pretty hard to deal with, on that aspect.
DOBBS: Absolutely.
The night you were assaulted, can you tell us what happened?
RAMOS: Well, I was pretty much just watching TV. Unfortunately, they’ve tried to make a
point of — you know, the Bureau of Prisons and — I spoke to the assistant prosecutor —
ssistant U.S. prosecutors today from Mississippi, handling that case now. I guess they’re trying
to make it — I don’t know, a point about America’s Most Wanted, and I got to thank them for
doing the story, anyway, but that story came out that Saturday. And I knew — I had watched it,
but I tried to play it off. I guess, though, these people had recognized me.
But they waited until 10:00 o’clock, and I had just gotten out of the shower, so I was
sitting in my little cubicle with just a t-shirt and shorts on. And I heard some running, and at
that time of the night, you know, pretty much no one’s wearing shoes, just wearing like
slippers. And what happened is, these guys had gotten fully dressed in their boots and stuff
and that’s the pounding I heard. And as soon as I turned around to see where it had come from,
these guys were already coming in my little cubicle, and when I turned around, the punches were
already coming. And that’s how it started.
DOBBS: How many were there?
RAMOS: Initially I saw just three, but it was that fast, because when I turned around to
see what was happening, I barely had time to turn my head, so I wouldn’t take the first punch
square in the face. So I caught the first punch on the side of the head, and I barely had time
enough time to cover up a little bit, before I took several punches to the head. And ultimately
it was five of them that pretty much surrounded me.
DOBBS: Did you recognize them?
RAMOS: No, not really. I didn’t have time. It was that fast, and I covered up my face the
best I could to protect my face.
DOBBS: Did they say anything to you?
RAMOS: Well, they were screaming things at me, explicitives (SIC) in Spanish, things
about the Border Patrol as well. And of course, screaming to hit him, in Spanish. But that’s
basically the extent of things that I could hear, of what they were yelling at me in Spanish.
DOBBS: Were they all Hispanic?
RAMOS: Yes, they were.
DOBBS: What kind of things were they saying about the Border Patrol?
RAMOS: Well, the one thing I heard clearly was — and I’ll just tell you, they said
(PHRASE IN SPANISH), which, it’s slang, but it means the f-word and then Border Patrol.
DOBBS: What did they say to you personally?
RAMOS: Nothing that I could pick out. The rest was pretty much just, Hit him, hit him,
hit him.
DOBBS: And the prison officials never did figure out who did it?
RAMOS: No, I believe they did. I knew they had an investigation going, and I believe
they told me that, yes, they did. I think they got five of them.
DOBBS: So they got them all.
RAMOS: To my understanding.
DOBBS: All right, let me ask you about something else that Debra Canoff (ph) said in
her closing arguments, referring to the statement by Aldrade Babylon (ph). He said he heard
Compeon call him `a Mexican piece of shit’ in Spanish, and then she said, “That’s what
Osvaldo (ph) heard first. It has deteriorated so much,” she said, “with those two agents on
the border, that they’re calling people of their same ethnic background `Mexican shits.’”
Do you recall her saying that?
RAMOS: Um-hmm. (Affirmative.) Yes, I do.
DOBBS: What went through your head when she said that?
RAMOS: First, I thought it was absurd, because in ten years, I’ve never had to curse
at anybody there on the border to do anything that I have needed them to do. And of course,
it was just one more thing to I guess to try and sway the jury, and it just one of those
things, now that I’m hearing more and more, it’s the same thing I think they did and said to
Gary Rugman (ph).
DOBBS: That they did what?
RAMOS: To Gary Rugman (ph), the Border Patrol agent that was just released. You
know, I think it’s a tactic, to try and sway the jury — Look what they’re doing, now they’re
even cursing at the immigrants.
And I was there, you know, when Agent Compeon was trying to get him to stop. He
never said that, and he never cursed at him. Mr. Davle (ph) was just totally noncompliant,
and he wasn’t going to listen to anything we had to say. He was just going to keep going.
Mr. Dobbs, they’re telling me I have to cut this interview now, so –
DOBBS: All right. Well, I certainly appreciate your time, Ignacio, and –
RAMOS: Well, thank you, Mr. Dobbs.
DOBBS: And we’ll stay in touch. And keep up the good fight.
RAMOS: Thank you, sir. And now that I got a chance to talk to you personally, I
want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your help and support that you’ve
given us from the very, very beginning.
DOBBS: Well, we’re delighted to be supportive and we’re proud to support you. So
hang in there.
RAMOS: Thank you, sir. I hope to meet you in person one day.
DOBBS: I look forward to it.
RAMOS: Thank you, sir.
DOBBS: Thank you.
The following is a transcript of a phone interview that CNN Anchor Lou Dobbs
conducted with Compean.
LOU DOBBS: If we can, let’s start with how you are being treated?
JOSE COMPEAN: Very good. Actually it has been — I have had nothing but good
things to say.
DOBBS: Good.
COMPEAN: I have been treated really good here.
DOBBS: Excellent. Are you still in the general population?
COMPEAN: No. I have never have been. I have always been on the protective custody.
DOBBS: Right. And how do you spend your days?
COMPEAN: Pretty much listening to the radio and reading. And that’s about it.
DOBBS: Let’s talk about — if we can, go back to that day of the incident. You
struggled with the drug smuggler. Why did you fire your weapon?
COMPEAN: That was my life — I thought my life was in danger. I saw what
looked like a gun and me, I drew my weapon and fired, just like we are taught to.
You see the threat, you draw your weapon.
DOBBS: And you thought you saw him draw a weapon and point it at you?
COMPEAN: Yes.
DOBBS: Why do you think the jury did not take your word and instead took the
drug smuggler’s word?
COMPEAN: I really don’t know. I know from what we were told by our attorneys
after the trial, nine of the jurors were on our side. And I know everyone has heard the
jury foreman who wanted us to be guilty because he thought we were guilty. And as I
remember him saying, he said he worked for the federal government and he was going
to get paid — that he was still going to receive a paycheck no matter how long it took.
And he had a fishing trip that he had planned for spring break, so he wanted
to be done. And he said, I’m not going to change my vote. And I think that had a
lot to do with it.
DOBBS: A lot has been made of the fact you picked up your brass (ph) and
didn’t report the shooting. Why did you do that?
COMPEAN: At the time I wasn’t — I mean, I wasn’t even thinking, I — to this
day I don’t even remember doing it. I know I saw them in my hand and that is
when I tossed them. But I mean, I just — from the training we have received to
whenever we fire our weapon, we pick up our brass, possibly from being out at
he range, and I had never been in that position where I thought I was going to die.
I really did. And I wasn’t thinking about anything. At the time I looked down,
I saw them on the ground and it just looked strange to me with the sort of — to me
it looked dirty. And I just went down. I bent down, picked them up and you know,
the next thing, I look down, I had them in my hand.
I really didn’t even remember picking them up. I just — I remember tossing them.
DOBBS: You mention picking up the brass to fellow agents, did you not?
COMPEAN: I had spoken to one of them, and that was the only — I think that
was the only time from what I remember.
DOBBS: Did he say, why did you pick up the brass or question you about it?
COMPEAN: No. He didn’t say anything.
DOBBS: All right. Weren’t there several other agents and supervisors at the
scene of the shooting?
COMPEAN: Yes. There was, I believe seven and nine people that were down there.
DOBBS: And were they aware that a shooting had taken place, as you recall?
COMPEAN: I really don’t know. I was on the — I was on the other side of the
canal that — what was said on the other side, I really couldn’t say. I know for sure
he — Jonathan Richards, the special operations supervisor, was told about the assault.
Agent Ramos told him as soon as he crossed over. During the trial, all of the
agents that the government put up on the stand were asked the same thing. And they
all said that they were standing there when Agent Ramos told Mr. Richards about the
assault. When Mr. Richards was on the stand, he completely denied it.
But about the shooting, I really don’t know.
DOBBS: Do you wish you had reported that shooting?
COMPEAN: Oh, of course.
DOBBS: Why didn’t you?
COMPEAN: I just — I didn’t think — I wasn’t thinking about anything at
that time. I mean, I just — you know, I figured someone would have said
something because, I mean, there was — with the number of people that were
there, they had to have heard what had gone on, because Agent Ramos was the
only one who crossed over that ditch to help me. And there were at least two
ther agents already there.
DOBBS: Why didn’t they cross that ditch?
COMPEAN: I really don’t know. I mean, that is the first thing you do, somebody
is in trouble, you are supposed to go and back them up. Not just stand there inside
the truck looking around.
DOBBS: Did you ever ask them why not?
COMPEAN: I never did. One of the agents that I saw that didn’t cross over,
I never really expected him to go over and help me.
DOBBS: Why not?
COMPEAN: I just — just the type of person, the type of agent that he was.
He was my trainee and I just — I mean, I always had trouble working with him.
And you try to correct someone, but I mean, you just hope that they will be there
to back you up. And he wasn’t.
DOBBS: You were offered several plea bargains, why didn’t you accept them?
COMPEAN: Because I thought we did nothing wrong. The only thing we did,
we made a mistake in not reporting it. And that was — that should have been taken
care of by the Border Patrol and not by the Mexican government.
DOBBS: All right. Do you think the Mexican government is behind your prosecution?
COMPEAN: I think so. Now I think that they were. They were somehow involved
with all of the other cases that have been brought up now. It is — I kind of see what
is going on now.
I mean, even when the Border Patrol was part of INS, the big joke around, you
can ask any Border Patrol agent, was that INS didn’t run the Border Patrol, that the
Mexican Consulate did.
DOBBS: We will do some asking around, as you put it. Have you got some other
cases where you know the consulate was involved?
COMPEAN: Well, I know the sheriff’s deputy — I know that has been…
DOBBS: Heard it, yes. Heard…
(CROSSTALK)
COMPEAN: I have heard about his and I’m not sure about the other two agents
that have been prosecuted as well.
DOBBS: I will make sure that we find out. During the prosecution’s closing
arguments, the prosecutor, Debra Kanof, said this: It has deteriorated so much with
these two agents on the border, they are calling people of their same ethnic
background Mexican blanks (ph) — Mexican shits (ph).
And she said that you had called him that. Why do you think she said that?
COMPEAN: Just to — she is putting up an act for the jury is the only thing I can
think of. I mean, I never said that. But then again, they are taking his side. They are
going off of everything he said. And he claimed to have heard me say that to him,
which I never did.
But you know, with her coming out and saying that we turned on one of our own,
that just goes to show the kind of she is — she would be willing to go to.
DOBBS: She interjected ethnicity into the closing argument.
COMPEAN: Right.
DOBBS: It is really remarkable.
COMPEAN: Right.
DOBBS: Did he ever curse at you or — Agent Ramos?
COMPEAN: No. He never did.
DOBBS: Did he ever say anything to you?
COMPEAN: The only time he did was when he said, (speaking Spanish), which
he said, don’t hit me. That was the one time he said it, in Spanish.
DOBBS: How far were you from Agent Ramos when he fired the shot that
hit him?
COMPEAN: I think I was maybe five to seven feet — he was a little bit off to
the side. And he was in front of me, a little bit ahead and kind of off to the side at
an angle.
DOBBS: Right. How far was the drug smuggler when Ramos shot him?
COMPEAN: I believe he was already at the edge of the river, that was about, I
don’t know, maybe 30 to 40 yards, he was right at the river’s edge.
DOBBS: Still one hell of a shot, isn’t it?
COMPEAN: Excuse me? I couldn’t hear you.
DOBBS: I said, that is still one hell of a shot, isn’t it?
COMPEAN: Yes.
DOBBS: Why do you think you didn’t hit him?
COMPEAN: I really don’t know. I mean, I remember I drew my weapon and I just
— I started firing. I mean, it looked like he was right in my sights. I mean, when I was
firing, that is what was looking at. And I really don’t know.
DOBBS: Did you have a sense of what kind of weapon you thought he had?
COMPEAN: It just looked like a handgun. I really couldn’t tell you what kind
or anything like that.
DOBBS: Homeland Security investigators told a number of members of
Congress they had information that you were out to shoot some Mexicans that day.
The investigators later admitted they lied to the Congress. Have you got any idea
why they would say anything like that?
COMPEAN: I think it all goes back to the beginning where they were trying to
get us convicted. They didn’t care how they did it or how it got done. And I think with
them lying to Congress, they were trying to get them to back off. And I think that is
the reason they did that.
But then you go back and look at Jonathan Richards. He lied to the investigators.
He got promoted. Three of the agents that testified for the government, well, two of
them were fired and one resigned because he was going to get fired, as well. And I
think they’re just — everybody was out trying to — to convict us, from the beginning.
DOBBS: But Richards got promoted?
COMPEAN: Yes, he did.
DOBBS: Yes. Why do you think he got promoted?
COMPEAN: Because he testified, and he basically said what — what, I think, what
they wanted him to say. I mean, there’s no other reason for him to — for him to be
promoted after lying, and every other agent that was on the stand testified to the
— not knowing about it. One of the agents standing next to me told him I yelled to
him across the canal, that I had been assaulted. He testified to that, as well, during
the trial.
But when he was questioned, he — I mean, he just completely denied it.
DOBBS: Let me ask you. Are you hopeful that you’re going to get either
congressional or the presidential pardon?
COMPEAN: I’m not looking at that right now. I’m looking at more — right
now I’m looking more at — at the appeal.
DOBBS: Right.
COMPEAN: And because I think that — that will — I think that will happen first
before anything else. I think that’s — I think that’s the next step, the appeal, and then,
if that doesn’t go through, then we have to look at that.
DOBBS: How do you feel about the support you got from the Border Patrol, the
Border Patrol agents, the organization, the Border Patrol Council?
COMPEAN: We’ve had a lot of support from agents, individual agents. From the
Border Patrol Council and from the Border Patrol itself we haven’t.
DOBBS: Is that disappointing?
COMPEAN: It is, but it’s kind of not surprising, because I…
DOBBS: Because what? Are you there, Paul?
(AUDIO GAP)
DOBBS: Just a couple of other things. What would you like people to know about
you and Agent Ramos and what’s happened to you and how you’re feeling?
COMPEAN: I just — I want to thank everyone for all the support. It’s been — it’s
been tremendous and overwhelming. And I want people to know that we haven’t given
up, and I hope they don’t give up either.
You know, I think a lot — this case, I think, has opened up a lot of people’s eyes
on — as to what’s been going on. Because obviously, as we found out now, we’re not
the first case. And I’m hoping that our case and Deputy Hernandez’ case will be the last.
And I think a lot of people need to make sure to see exactly what happened. And not just
with our case but all the other cases, because I think they’re all linked.
DOBBS: Let me ask you one other question. Do you think there’s any way to get
at the bottom of why the U.S. attorney’s office prosecuted so vigorously?
COMPEAN: I can’t hear you.
DOBBS: I said do you think there’s any way for us to get to the bottom of why the
U.S. attorney’s office prosecuted you, Hernandez and obviously, Agent Ramos, so
vigorously?
COMPEAN: I would — I really hope so. Like I said, because if not, this isn’t
going to be the last case. We’re not going to be the last ones.
But I think — I think it all goes back down to — to the Mexican consulate,
especially if you look at Deputy Hernandez’ case. I know there were some — some
— the reports I’ve heard and some of the articles that I received from — from my family,
there were numerous letters sent by the consulate, demanding that he be prosecuted.
And I really don’t know if — if that happened with us, and I’m sure it did.
DOBBS: We have reason to believe it did. So what we’re trying to do is prove
what happened and did not happen.
Jose, I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you. And we’re going to continue to
focus on your story and — and hope for some justice.
COMPEAN: Thank you. And I want to thank you for — for everything you’ve
done, too. I mean, I really — if it wasn’t for yourself, Sarah Carter (ph), one of
the other reporters on KCYN, I think a lot of people would still not even know
what happened. Thank you.
DOBBS: Yes, I think a lot of people are awakening.
Can I ask you a crazy question?
COMPEAN: Yes.
DOBBS: What was the temperature that day, of the shooting?
COMPEAN: It was warm. I couldn’t tell you how hot. It was — it was — it was
a very warm day.
DOBBS: I’ll go back and check on it. Just curious about it.
Listen, I really appreciate it, and I wish you all the very best.
COMPEAN: Thank you.
DOBBS: Thank you, sir.