A former US Border Patrol agent who served time in federal prison for shooting an illegal immigrant received a hero’s welcome at a Temecula political function last week.

Jose Compean, who was released from federal prison in February after receiving a commutation in the waning days of President George W. Bush’s administration, won glowing praise and a pair of standing ovations at a meeting of the Murrieta-Temecula Republican Assembly.

In Compean’s first speaking engagement since his release, the El Paso resident took the lectern to loud, enthusiastic applause and camera flashes.

The dinner event at Temeku Hills Clubhouse attracted about 175 people, organizers said.

Compean shared details about the day in February 2005 – when he and fellow agent Ignacio Ramos pursued a van loaded with nearly 800 pounds of marijuana – that ended in a foot chase and the non-lethal shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, a Mexican national who had crossed the border illegally.

In 2006, Compean was convicted of shooting Davila – who was later convicted of marijuana smuggling in an unrelated case.

The former agent was released from federal prison in February after serving two years of his 12-year sentence.

Compean, who is a registered Democrat but can no longer vote due to his criminal conviction, has been embraced by border control advocates who believe he was wrongfully convicted.

To them, Compean proves that the nation’s immigration and border control programs are in need of serious reform.

"We think he’s a victim of a system of corruption," said Bob Kowell, president of the Republican Party chapter that is one of the largest and most active in the nation. "Our government is not doing a good operation, at least in that area and by singling out these two agents and sending them to prison. What it did was tell the Border Patrol, ‘Don’t mess with drug dealers.’"

The group paid the cost for Compean and his wife and three children to travel to Temecula for the speaking engagement and to appear in the city’s Fourth of July parade the following day.

Those funds, about $1,075, were raised by a raffle and donations from audience members.

Compean said his attorneys are still working on his behalf to clear his name. As a result, he said there’s much he still cannot discuss about his case.

When the event moderator pressed Compean to reveal what he could, the former agent speculated that the Advertisement
federal prosecutor acted in a face-saving move even though key evidence was withheld and the illegal immigrant’s testimony and other facts were in doubt.

"Once [the prosecutor] started investigating, I think it was too late to turn back and they just started coming up with all sorts of ridiculous stuff," Compean told the audience.

He denied trial accounts that the immigrant, who escaped into Mexico following the shooting, was unarmed at the time.

Compean drew laughter from the crowd when he said he should have listened to an inner voice and called in sick to work the morning the shooting unfolded.

Compean was given a proclamation during the dinner by state Assemblyman Joel Anderson (R-El Cajon).

In his remarks, Anderson, who wrote a letter to Bush on Compean’s behalf prior to the commutation, said he wished he could have done more.

"I want to honor you for your heroic service to our country," Anderson said. "Thank you so much for what you and your family have gone through and how you’ve stood the line for our sovereignty in our great nation."

Compean said he isn’t comfortable with his hero status or what he’s come to represent in the polarized issues of illegal immigration.

"It was a little…upsetting, because people were looking at it as a Democrat [versus] Republican issue or as an immigration issue, but really it wasn’t," Compean said in an interview after the dinner. "It’s been about what’s right and what’s wrong and the US Attorney’s office was just lying, basically."

Compean said he appreciated the thousands of letters of support that he and Ramos received prior to their commutation.

He thanked the Republican Assembly and other groups for staunchly defending them and for pressing Bush to commute their sentences.

Kowell said he wrote sharply worded letters to Bush saying that the agents’ convictions would weigh heavily on the President’s future legacy.

Even before his arrest and conviction, Compean said he had become disenchanted with Border Patrol policies and operations and he was pondering a career change.

He said agents would get in trouble one day for not apprehending enough illegal immigrants and then scolded the next for catching too many.

Compean said he is moving toward his goal of becoming a teacher while he works to repair his professional reputation and rebuild his life as a husband and father.

"Right now, that’s what I’m focused on," he said.

The following day, July 4th Jose Compean and his family were honored guests in Temecula’s Fourth of July Parade.