“So, in other words,” Feinstein clarified, “any drug dealer on the border who doesn’t obey a stop command and runs, cannot be shot?”

“Yes ma’am,” Sutton replied. “Unless there are other circumstances, but just the fact they are running and they were a drug dealer is not enough.”

“No wonder so much drugs are coming across the border,” Feinstein said.

Sutton later said that if the laws were relaxed it would mean that “some [innocent] people are going to get gunned down execution-style by a cop.”

Republican senators Cornyn, Tom Coburn (Okla.), Jon Kyl (Ariz.) and Jeff Sessions (Ala.) also participated in the hearing. Feinstein was the only Democrat who attended.

Only eight months after Davila was shot, the smuggler tried again to bring marijuana into the United States--possibly on a humanitarian visa issued to him by Sutton’s prosecution team. In order to bring charges against Ramos and Compean, Sutton said it was necessary to bring Davila into the United States in order to extract the bullet from his buttocks and prove it came from an agent’s gun. The prosecution also awarded Davila with immunity in exchange for testifying against the agents.

“Looking back, it probably wasn’t a very wise [decision]” to issue a known drug dealer a humanitarian visa, Sutton said. He said he did not have enough resources to provide people like Davila with escorts back and forth across the border.

“We just don’t have enough agents to sit on every dealer,” Sutton said.

Sutton said he could not say much more about the humanitarian visa that was issued because his team is still investigating Davila’s October drug run.

While that investigation continues, Davila is currently pursuing a civil suit against the U.S. government for $5 million in damages for the injuries he suffered.