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Free Deputy Gilmer Hernandez!

FreeGilbert Edwards County Deputy Gilmer Hernandez was involved in a routine traffic stop. At least he thought it was routine. When it escalated, and he was forced to fire his weapon for the first time in his career, it was Hernandez who faced a jury.

Now, his hometown of Rocksprings is rallying to his side, as he faces up to ten years in a federal prison for what most folks say was just doing his job. Read the news accounts to the right and let us know what you think. We'll add it to the Speak Out! page.

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News Coverage

Rocksprings Record

KSAT 12 San Antonio (with video)

San Antonio Express-News

From the Congressional Record of the U.S. House of Representatives 10 January 2007:

DEPUTY GILMER HERNANDEZ
BORDER LAWMAN

(Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)
Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, in the small border town of Rocksprings, Texas, where drug smugglers and human smugglers sneak across the Rio Grande into America, lone Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez was on patrol. In the stillness of the vast night, a speeding Suburban runs a red light.
Deputy Hernandez, 25, stops the vehicle, but suddenly, without warning, the vehicle takes off. Deputy Hernandez says the vehicle tried to run him down. The lawman fires several shots, one of which shoots out the rear tire, just like in the movies.
The vehicle stops, and eight or nine illegals jump out and take off running into the sagebrush. One illegal had a minor injury from a bullet. The U.S. Government rounds up six or seven of the illegals and, guess what, prosecutes Deputy Hernandez, claiming he recklessly discharged his firearm and uses the illegals as witnesses against the lawman during a trial.
Citizens of his town are mad. One said, ``Our deputy's in jail for doing his job.''
Mr. Speaker, another example of how the Federal Government is more concerned about people illegally invading America than it is about the men who protect America. Once again, our government is on the wrong side of the border war.
And that's just the way it is.

U.S. Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX)