FOXX AND FEINSTEIN UNLIKELY BEDFELLOWS IN BORDER-AGENT CASE

Both say that two West Texas agents facing jail time got a raw deal
from government Congress is filled with polar opposites. When it
comes to politics, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5th and Sen. Dianne
Feinstein, D-Calif., are about as close to opposites as one might find.

Foxx, 63, is a staunch conservative. When it comes to immigration,
she favors border security first. As far as she is concerned, that's
the only place to start, and she does not entertain other
alternatives. Feinstein, 73, is a liberal Democrat. She supports a
pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country.
She has been outspoken in support of a bill passed by the Senate
earlier this year that does that, a plan Foxx calls "amnesty."

The women, who represent very different parts of the country, agree
on one thing - two former border agents in western Texas were given a
raw deal by the government.

Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean were accused of shooting
admitted drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete Davila in the buttocks and
then trying to cover it up. Davila, a Mexican national, was in
possession of about 700 pounds of marijuana at the time.

Ramos and Compean were convicted in March of assault with a deadly
weapon, obstruction of justice, a civil-rights violation and other
felonies. They were both acquitted of assault with attempt to commit
murder. They are to be sentenced next month and could face more than
20 years in prison. Last week, Foxx called on congressional
committees and the Justice Department to investigate. "I want to see
a very thorough and objective study on this and for all the facts to
come through," Foxx said. She said she does not understand how agents
who stopped a drug smuggler at the border could be facing jail time.

Feinstein has similar thoughts. She has asked Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales to look into the matter. In a letter to the chairman
of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., she
said she had "significant concerns that there may have been a serious
miscarriage of justice." She asked Specter to hold hearings.

Rep. Walter Jones, R-3rd., has also gotten involved. He has written
the White House and Gonzales. So far, he said, he has heard nothing.
Jones said he doesn't see it as a partisan issue and believes that
the executive branch must deal with it.

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, the man who prosecuted Ramos and
Compean, is not worried about an investigation into the case. "These
guys shot an unarmed suspect as he was running away. Then they lied
about it and destroyed evidence," he told the Dallas Morning News.