FOXNews.com: Lawmakers press administration on jailed Marine, point finger at US border agents

FOXNews.com FOX News Network - We Report. You Decide. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Lawmakers press administration on jailed Marine, point finger at US border agents Dec 20th 2012, 14:52 Dozens of congressional lawmakers called on the Obama administration to press more aggressively for the release of the former Marine locked up in Mexico, and pointed the finger at Customs and Border Protection agents for allegedly giving Jon Hammar bad advice that may have contributed to his arrest.  Hammar is locked up in a notorious Mexican prison on what his family says is a trumped-up weapons charge.  Nearly 70 lawmakers from both sides of the aisle on Wednesday wrote a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urging the administration to do whatever it can to "bring Jon home."  "Jon put his life on the line for our country, and the United States government has a responsibility to him and his family to do everything within its power to bring him home," they wrote. Hammar is an Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran.  The lawmakers, led by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., reserved pointed criticism for the U.S. border agents who allegedly gave Hammar bad information when he was crossing the border into Mexico with a vintage shotgun.  According to a friend and fellow Marine who spoke with FoxNews.com, Hammar asked the U.S. agents how to follow the law, and he was told he just needed to fill out a permit and declare the gun to Mexican authorities. Hammar was arrested and thrown in prison anyway.  "We are extremely concerned over the role Customs and Border Protection has played in this situation," the lawmakers wrote. "While the CBP insists it was not one of their agents who gave Mr. Bogan the bad directions, there can be no disputing its role in the Hammar incident. We would like to know how this could have happened, and why the CBP agents at the border gave Jon what was obviously wrong information. Jon and his friend trusted that the CBP agents were giving him the correct information, so they crossed into Mexico and attempted to register the shotgun legally."  A spokesman for CBP earlier this week said it would be unlikely an agent would have led Hammar to believe he could have brought the shotgun.  Though the State Department apparently has intervened to improve Hammar's safety in the prison, the lawmakers said the department has not provided any information on what is being done to get him released.  "This situation is unacceptable," they wrote.  A State Department official told Fox News that U.S. diplomatic officials in Mexico have been providing "consular services" since they were notified on Aug. 16 of his arrest.  Hammar's parents dispute how helpful the State Department has been. Father Jon Hammer told Fox News that what the family heard from the department has been "discouraging."

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions