Another border patrol agent who was prosecuted for doing his job.

Another case has recently come to light involving the malicious prosecution of a Customs and Border Patrol agent with eerie parallels to the Compean and Ramos case. Former Border Patrol officer Robert Rhodes is suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for $25 million for wrongful prosecution. He was acquitted in 2005 of violating the civil fights of a Chinese national by allegedly using excessive force arresting her.

Zhao Yan along with two other women were arrested as suspected drug smugglers at the Rainbow Bridge at the U.S.-Canada border in 2004. All three attempted to flee, and when Rhodes caught up with Zhao she resisted arrest by kicking, punching, and scratching him. Rhodes used pepper spray to subdue her. Once in custody, she was quickly released.

Shortly afterwards, the Chinese government intervened to get agent Rhodes prosecuted. Then-U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and then-Secretary of State Colin Powell apologized to China, and in a letter to Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, Powell promised that the U.S. government would thoroughly investigate the case. Why this deference to China? "The top priority of the Bush administration is trade and commerce at the expense of national security," Andy Ramirez, chairman of Friends of the Border Patrol, told THE NEW AMERICAN.

Zhao Yan claimed she was an innocent business woman involved in the lumber business, although under cross-examination during the trial she admitted she knew very little about the lumber industry. In addition, she happens to be the niece of a two-star general in the Chinese army. She is now suing the U.S. government for $10 million for a civil rights violation.