Cartel suspect says arrest was pretty mean

Houston Chronicle:

An alleged Gulf Cartel operative facing charges in Houston accuses U.S. agents of aiming the laser sights of their weapons on his 11-year-old American-born triplets during his arrest, then threatening to send him back to Mexico to be "quartered, burned and killed" by rivals if he didn't cooperate.

Eudoxio Ramos Garcia, arrested in October in Rio Grande City, just across the border from Mexico, is charged with orchestrating a conspiracy that involved running bulk loads of marijuana from the border to Houston.

Through his lawyers, Ramos seeks to have a supposed confession and other evidence tossed out on the grounds that agents illegally entered his home, had no warrant to arrest him, no right to zap him with a taser and interrogated him for hours without giving him access to an attorney or reading him his rights.

"I believe the court must teach these officers a lesson," attorney Baltazar Salazar told U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison, who is to rule whether evidence should be suppressed before any trial.

The Drug Enforcement Administration contends the 34-year-old native of Mexico is better known as Commander Carrito.

DEA agent Mark Schmidt said Ramos was caught speaking on wiretaps, confessed to his role in coordinating the large shipments of marijuana to the United States, and said he is familiar with operations to move cash and weapons back toward Mexico.

Throughout a Friday hearing, he was kept in chains and flanked by deputy marshals. There was no discussion of his innocence.

Salazar conceded the supposed confession was "very damaging" but said it was obtained illegally.

He said his client's statement included knowledge of the players in the Gulf Cartel, who was moving major loads of marijuana to Houston and distributing it, and how they would sneak past Border Patrol checkpoints on highways leading to the border region.

Salazar said that shortly after his arrest, Ramos was threatened with being thrown back across the border and into the hands of rivals who would take their time killing him as they exacted revenge. Baltazar was living in deep South Texas as an undocumented immigrant and appears to have been taking refuge from such violence in Mexico.

At least a dozen law enforcement officers, including deputy marshals and federal agents, raided Ramos' home in the Rio Grande Valley subdivision on the grounds they were looking for a higher-ranking member of the cartel as well as high-powered weapons and grenades.

Instead, they found Ramos and several members of his family, including his children. No guns. No grenades. No drugs.

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I do not have much sympathy for the guy.  Maybe he thinks Obama will offer him amnesty.  Since when is threatening to deport an illegal immigrant somehow illegal?  It seems like a reasonable negotiation for information.