WASHINGTON, May 23 (UPI) -- Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is defending U.S. Border Patrol head David Aguilar against criticism from labor unions and rank and file agents.
"David Aguilar is a tremendous head of the patrol," Chertoff told C-SPAN's Washington Journal Wednesday, adding he was "very, very supportive of the Border Patrol -- as am I. They are the first line of defense at the border."
Last month, the 100-strong leadership of the National Border Patrol Council, an AFL-CIO affiliated union representing the 11,000 rank-and-file U.S. Border Patrol agents, unanimously supported a vote of no confidence in Aguilar.
Labor leaders said their members were angry about a series of issues, but some mentioned in particular the imprisonment of two Border Patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, for shooting an unarmed Mexican drug smuggler as he was fleeing across the border in Texas.
Because the shootings happened on U.S. government land, the men were prosecuted under federal civil rights statutes. Convicted earlier this year, Ramos and Compean were sentenced to 11- and 12-year prison terms, respectively.
Their supporters have called for the men to be pardoned.
"It is in the legal process," Chertoff said of the case. "They have appeals and obviously are entitled to pursue them.
"Generally when a jury convicts -- and Texas juries I don't think (of) as being particularly soft-hearted -- when a jury convicts, we respect the verdict and allow the legal process to work."
Aguilar's agency is playing a key role in the Department of Homeland Security's ambitious plan to gain what Chertoff has called "operational control" of the U.S. border with Mexico through a combination of physical barriers and remote surveillance equipment.
Chertoff said Aguilar had "developed a kind of strategic vision and disciplined implementation plan" for the border, "of the kind we have never seen before."
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Shaun Waterman, UPI Homeland and National Security Editor
