The case of two former El Paso Border Patrol agents who shot a drug smuggler in the buttocks last year has become a cause celebre among elected officials and activists. Since their conviction in March on several counts of assault, weapons crimes, tampering and deprivation of civil rights, former agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean and their family members have appeared on national news shows such as CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" and Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor." Members of the U.S. House and Senate have vowed to conduct hearings on their case, and a petition asking President Bush to pardon them is circulating on the Internet. The plight of the agents is striking a chord with Americans at a time when the United States is focusing on border security and asking more from Border Patrol agents.