This is fantastic news, although I would have liked to have seen a pardon for these guys instead of just commuting the sentences. I am sure the families are happy, and this was still pretty cool. –Matt
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Bush Commutes Prison Sentences of 2 Ex-Border Agents
By Roger Runningen and James Rowley
Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) — President George W. Bush, on the eve of leaving office, commuted the sentences of two former agents of the U.S. Border Patrol who were convicted of shooting an unarmed Mexican drug smuggler as he attempted to flee.
Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean were sentenced last November. Compean was given a 12-year term on charges including assault with a dangerous weapon and aiding and abetting a crime; Ramos was given a term of 11 years and one day on similar charges. The commutation reduces their prison terms to time- served as of March 20.
Their case became part of the debate over illegal immigration and attempts to rewrite U.S. immigration law.
They were convicted of assaulting an unarmed Mexican national, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, who was shot in the buttocks in 2005 as he attempted to flee back to Mexico after being stopped inside the U.S. border with a van loaded with marijuana, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
In a Sept. 11, 2008 statement about the case, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton said the two agents “shot 15 times at an unarmed man who was running away and posed no threat.” The agents “lied about what happened, covered up the shooting and then proceeded to write up and file a false report,” he said.
Aldrete-Davila was sentenced to nine years and five months in prison for conspiracy to import more than 100 kilograms of marijuana and related charges.
Congressional Support
Their cause had been taken up by dozens of members of Congress as well as opponents of immigration who contended that the two former agents were unfairly prosecuted and given excessive sentences.
“Most of us believe, and so many millions of Americans believe, this prosecution was rotten from day one,” Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California said at a Jan. 14 news conference to lobby for their release.
Rohrabacher was joined by nine other House Republicans and Democratic Representative Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts.
Delahunt, a member of the House Judiciary Committee that held hearings on the case, said the sentences “sent the wrong message to our Border Patrol agents and the people who defend that border.”
Delahunt cited U.S. Sentencing Commission statistics showing that the average prison term for manslaughter was three years, far less than the prison terms imposed on the two agents.
T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union that represents 12,000 agents, praised Bush’s decision while saying it was late in coming.
‘Reacted Reasonably’
“You really have to wonder what took the president so long,” Bonner said. The two Border Patrol agents “reacted reasonably” in defending themselves.
Amy Kudwa, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman, declined to comment on Bush’s decision to commute the agents’ sentences.
Bush took the action on his last full day in office. Barack Obama is set to be sworn in as the 44th U.S. president tomorrow.
To contact the reporters on this story: Roger Runningen in Washington at rrunningen@bloomberg.net; James Rowley in Washington at jrowley@bloomberg.net
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