Mexican set free after border patrol agent struck, killed

[Confederate Kahanist]

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=68056


Officials are outraged after a Mexican judge released a Mexican national who allegedly struck and killed a U.S. Border Patrol agent with his vehicle.

Jesus Navarro Montes was accused of intentionally killing Agent Luis Aguilar Jan. 19 near the Imperial Sand Dunes in Imperial County, Calif., the Los Angeles Times reported. Aguilar was attempting to stop two Mexican vehicles from entering the country illegally. As he positioned a strip of tire spikes into the road, Montes allegedly rammed his vehicle into the agent and killed him.

Now a Mexican judge has released Montes without restrictions.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said he was shocked at the Mexican judge's decision to free Montes.

"We are working with a determined Mexican government and our Department of Justice to seek swift justice for the Aguilar murder," Chertoff said in a statement. "We have also assured Agent Aguilar's family that every resource is being called upon in the relentless pursuit of justice."

Chertoff had previously applauded Mexico's support in finding Aguilar's murderer, and he referenced the agent's slaying as an illustration of increasing violence along the U.S.-Mexico border.

However, Montes was arrested in northern Mexico three days following Aguilar's murder, where he awaited a trial on charges of immigrant smuggling. He was later set free, and the details of his prison release were unclear, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The president of the National Border Patrol Council, T.J. Bonner, told newspaper he couldn't understand how Montes could be released after he allegedly killed a border patrol agent in cold blood.

"How can a guy who murdered one of our law enforcement agents just be released like that?" Bonner asked. "He could be anywhere by now."

Officials at Mexico's federal attorney general's office and Public Safety Department said they believe Montes drove from Mexicali in Baja California toward the U.S. border in a Hummer loaded with drugs prior to striking the agent with his vehicle.

According to the report, U.S. Border Patrol agents saw the vehicles illegally enter the country on Interstate 8, so they attempted to apprehend the suspects. After Aguilar was killed, Montes drove back to Mexicali and gave the Hummer to one of his friends.

According to the report, Mexican government spokesman Ricardo Alday said, "The United States, to this date, has presented neither a provisional order of arrest for Mr. Navarro Montes nor a formal extradition request."