"House of Death" Update

Radley Balko | March 25, 2009

A few weeks ago, I posted about Guillermo Ramirez Peyro's appeal of his pending deportation before a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Peyro (also known as "Lalo") is the central figure in the "House of Death" scandal, in which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are accused of allowing Peyro and members of the Juarez drug cartel to commit as many as a dozen murders because preventing the murders would have disrupted their drug investigation. Peyro is the only non-government witness who knows exactly what happened in that case. If the longtime federal drug informant is deported to Mexico, he'll almost certainly be killed, rendering moot any possible future investigation of the case here in the U.S.

The bad news is that at the hearing, the Obama administration continued with the Bush administration's efforts to deport Peyro. The good news is, the panel of judges appeared to be fairly skeptical of the government's position.

Narcosphere's Bill Conroy has the transcript of the oral arguments.

You can read my interview with Sandy Gonzalez, the DEA agent who blew the whistle on the House of Death case, here.

Comments

|3.25.09 @ 4:14PM|#

"House of Death" scandal, in which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are accused of allowing Peyro and members of the Juarez drug cartel to commit as many as a dozen murders because preventing the murders would have disrupted their drug investigation.


Well, NOW everybody knows how much is human life worth - one drug dealing investigation.

|3.25.09 @ 4:25PM|#

the Obama administration continued with the Bush administration's efforts

Seems like we've been saying that a lot, doesn't it?

|3.25.09 @ 4:32PM|#

Hey, if fascism was sooooo useful the last time, why fix what ain't broken???

|3.25.09 @ 4:33PM|#

Change is so totally overrated...

ev|3.25.09 @ 4:36PM|#

Hope too.

|3.25.09 @ 4:48PM|#

Typical cops and inteligence people. They would rather let someone get killed than compromise a means and method or an ongoing investigation. The IC community is just as bad. Those motherfuckers would watch the entire country blowup and wouldn't lift a finger to stop it because it might compromise a means and method.

I wish could adaquately express the kind of arrogance that exists at the higher levels of the intel and LE communities. They literally will look you in the eye and tell you that all criticisms of their world are by people who just don't know or understand or have an axe to grind. I don't trust any of them.

Count Floyd|3.25.09 @ 4:49PM|#

Okay kiddies, get ready for a really, really scary movie - The House of Death. Owwooooooooooo!

|3.25.09 @ 5:29PM|#

"""They literally will look you in the eye and tell you that all criticisms of their world are by people who just don't know or understand..."""

Understand is correct, most of us wouldn't understand the concept that the behaviors of tyrannts is the correct path to achieve goals of a free nation.

|3.25.09 @ 5:33PM|#

"""Seems like we've been saying that a lot, doesn't it?"""

Yes it does. So much that joe can't get out of a fetal position long enough to post on H&R.

|3.25.09 @ 6:09PM|#

Well, NOW everybody knows how much is human life worth - one drug dealing investigation.

Make that one twelfth of a drug dealing investigation.