A Republican congressman is accusing the Bush administration of failing to own up to “a huge blunder” that led to the release in Mexico of a man wanted in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent, reports USA Today. Rep. Brian Bilbray of San Diego said he will press the Justice Department for answers it has refused to provide him about the apparent failure to seek timely extradition of Jesus Navarro Montes last month. The Justice Department and White House last week wrote Bilbray that they were unable to offer an explanation, saying information sought by Congress would “inevitably compromise highly sensitive law enforcement investigative information.”
“It looks like a huge blunder,” Bilbray said. He was joined by 38 other congressmen in writing to President Bush and Attorney General Michael Mukasey demanding to know whether the government had asked Mexico to extradite Navarro in connection with the death of Border Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar, who was struck and killed by an SUV on Jan. 19. Navarro was arrested in Mexico but was released from a Mexicali jail after a Mexican judge cleared him of an unrelated migrant smuggling charge.
Link: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-07-24-border-agent_N.htm