19th January 2009

Bush Commutes Sentences of Ramos & Compean

Posted by thebaldchick in Illegal Immigration |

Good news

The Legend of Hell House

The Peacekeeper release

that many of us were skeptical would happen.

In his final acts of clemency, President George W. Bush on Monday commuted the prison sentences of two former U.S. Border Patrol agents whose convictions for shooting a Mexican drug dealer ignited fierce debate about illegal immigration.

Bush’s decision to commute the sentences of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who tried to cover up the shooting, was welcomed by both Republican and Democratic members of Congress. They had long argued that the agents were merely doing their jobs, defending the American border against criminals. They also maintained that the more than 10-year prison sentences the pair was given were too harsh.

There has been much debate over whether or not the conviction of Ramos and Compean was just. Accusations flew that prosecutor Johnny Sutton had an ax to grind, that the agents were over-zealously prosecuted, and that they were used to send a message to Border Patrol agents: it’s possible to do your jobs TOO well.

I believe that all of the above was true, but no matter where you stand on all of those factors, just about everyone agreed that their 11 and 12-year sentences were way out of whack.

They’ve already paid a much higher price than was warranted.

God bless you, Nacho and Jose…God bless you and your families.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 1:28 pm and is filed under Illegal Immigration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

There are currently 3 responses to “Bush Commutes Sentences of Ramos & Compean”

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  1. 1 On January 19th, 2009, Rhonda said:

    Amen! I am thrilled, and can’t wait till these guys are able to go back home and start to rebuild their lives. I still hope, though, for a full pardon eventually so they can go back to what it is that they were doing before.

    Not to throw water on this news, but the Border Patrol is still not entirely sure they can shoot at a drug suspect regardless of circumstances. Not to mention that the Compeans had a robbery-vandalism-hit on their home last week. No doubt the drug dealers are on the watch for these guys and probably sensed they would get out of prison soon. Now their lives are probably in a greater amount of danger than they were in prison. However, if I had to choose between getting out of prison and being threatened at home by thugs and gangsters, I’d choose the latter.

  2. 2 On January 19th, 2009, Sonja said:

    I wish Bush would have pardoned them. Still I am thrilled that they are home. Hopefully they will eventually be cleared of all charges!

  3. 3 On January 20th, 2009, Somedude said:

    Honestly, I’m a bit miffed that it took him this long, that he only commuted their sentences and that he probably only did ANYTHING just so Obama couldn’t.

    After all the outright crooks and criminals Bush has given full pardons to, it seems unreasonable to just reduce the sentence keeping these fellows as felons.

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