Ramos and his mom before his incarceration.
A man of real courage and decency would have pardoned them. It also would have been nice to have done it in time so they could have been home for Christmas. A commutation is better than nothing, though, and typical Bush. It is, to say the least, good they’ll be free, but since there is no pardon they’ll be convicted felons for the rest of their lives…for doing their jobs trying to keep this nation safe.
Bush commutes sentences for 2 Border guards
WASHINGTON (AP) – President George W. Bush has commuted the prison sentences of two former Border Patrol guards whose convictions for shooting a Mexican drug dealer ignited debate about illegal immigration.
Bush’s act of clemency on Monday for Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean was a victory for Democratic and Republican members of Congress and others who pleaded with the president to pardon the men or at least commute their sentences.
UPDATE:
Apparently, part of the White House statement, ironically, talks about how the men have been punished in part by a loss of their reputations. Does that mean Bush is being punished, too?
“After four years of fighting this, it’s taken a toll on me and my daughter, and really the whole family,” said Joe Loya, Ramos’ father-in law, who has received tens of thousands of supportive e-mails and spent much of the past two years traveling the country to speak about the case.
He said his daughter, Monica Ramos, called from New York after learning the news that her husband was to be released from a federal prison just outside Phoenix.
“She could hardly speak,” Loya said…
Bush didn’t pardon the men for their crimes, but decided instead to commute their sentences because he believed they were excessive and that they had already suffered the loss of their jobs, freedom and reputations, a senior administration official said.
The action by the president, who believes the border agents received fair trials and that the verdicts were just, does not diminish the seriousness of their crimes, the official said.
It’s about damn time!
Hallelujah!
This is great for Ramos and Compean and their families. I’m glad that Bush finally found his manhood and did this, but the stain of this prosecution and his administration’s approach to border security and illegal immigration doesn’t earn him any pardon from me. He has been an appeaser one too many times.
After signing scores of online petitions with no apparent progress, finally, FINALLY… Bush has come to his senses and did the right thing in the 11th hour. Thank God!
Now THIS is cause for celebration! -Dan
I have called everyone I know about this! They are expected to be interviewed on that new Beck Show on Fox Cable tonight at 5pm (ET). Thank you, Tammy, for the news alert! I couldn’t be more excited (well, yes I could be – if they were pardoned).
YES!!!
I am absolutely thrilled these men are FINALLY being released, but am still very angry they suffered even one day.
Though I’m glad President Bush finally did the right thing, it should have not taken this long. The least he can do is offer them some of the bail-out money so they can get their lives back together from the hell he allowed them to go through.
I wouldn’t mind seeing bail-out money go to help these two agents.
Commutation finally. Maybe the last act a bit too late to call it justice, but in spite of how irate I have been over the circumstances, I won’t even venture into any other comments on the situation.
You’ve made a good point. It’s been all compromise – And it’s never been necessary.
Virtue? (I jumped the gun with my enthusiam). Maybe not. I am just happy for them – and their family.
One great thing has now happened this year! It may be the only good news we receive. These two should never have spent one day in prison!
i celebrate this moment more than I do the inauguration.
there’s some justice in this world after all although a full pardon was in order.
I am overjoyed with this news, but like the others on this blog, I really do not understand why Nacho and Jose were prosecuted in the first place, given that the prosecutor KNEW what he did about the “injured party” in this whole mess!
I wish both of the HEROES the very best, and if I were an employer, they would not even have to fill out an application for them to be hired by me! I hope that employers fall all over themselves to BEG these two FINE MEN to take jobs with them – GOOD JOBS!!!
Oooh, pretty brave of the President to risk strained relations with his pal, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, who prosecuted them in the first place.
And what are Ramos and Compean supposed to do for livelyhood considering they’re now starting at zero? …maybe they could traffic meth like the scumball they shot in the butt.
Maybe they could join the volunteers patrolling our borders who call themselves the Minutemen. You know, the people who have been named vigalantes by the great forgiving emancipator in chief. Pflflft!
Ramos and Compean won’t be released until March 20. It’s too long as far as I’m concerned, but I’m glad they will soon be home with their families.
According to CNN:
Ramos and Compean will be released, and that is a great thing, but shame on the President for not pardoning them. I have tried to continue to like and respect Bush, but can’t anymore. His compassion is misplaced and judgement seriously flawed here.
When it comes to his ideas concerning the border, illegal immigration and the Ramos/Compean case, the label “Bush Derangement Syndrome” truly applies.
I am so happy President Bush FINALLY did the right thing. I have been emailing the White House and signing petitions. I was hoping that he would have done this before Christmas so these husbands and fathers could have been home with their wives and children. We will be happy, that it happened at all.
narrowly viewed, one can argue that laws were broken. the bigger crime is that our borders are not secure and we turn a blind eye toward illegal immigration and don’t do enough regarding human and drug trafficking.
there should be a law on the books that if a Border Patrol Agent witnesses you committing a crime and tells you to stop, and you don’t comply and instead flee, that the Border Patrol Agent is well within his or her right to pop you in the biscuit.
Considering public sentiment, I’m hoping there will be no shortage of job offers for these two men once they are released.
Great news, indeed. In spite of not being officially pardoned, they will be innocent in the eyes of the people. I only pray they can restore their lives and move forward.
This is good, but not great news. This should have been a pardon, not a commutation. But like most things with President Bush, half-way is about the best conservatives will get.
President Bush has kept us safe for the last seven years.
So like most issues with President Bush, I am grateful for his service, but disappointed in the quality in many areas of his responsibilities. Keeping the nation safe from terrorist attacks will be his legacy, and appointing two justices to the Supreme Court of the US to me are the high points.
Making Ramos and Campean rot in jail because his good friend Johnny Sutton prosecuted them is a sad legacy of President Bush’s presidency. Will we learn in the future that either Sutton or his helpers were on the drug cartel’s payroll? Something still stinks about the whole thing.
The obvious explanation is that there was some kind of backroom deal with the Mexican government.
Thank God. Better late than never I guess. I really never understood the twisted and tortured logic that led to their incarceration. What kind of legal system would grant immunity to a known drug runner, and then use that to frame two federal law officers? It doesn’t get more absurd than this one.
Even the politial aspects are difficult to digest. Why should this country give a care about what the Mexican government would have to say about this?
Kimj7157, my sentiments, exactly. Praying many decent job offers that will let them fade into the woodwork to carry on their lives without further harassment. If GWB would have cared more, maybe HIS rep wouldn’t be so badly soiled from his own screwups/missteps. Et Tu, Brute’?
Thank God, at least the guys can be out, later if not sooner.
CinderellaMan : One can only speculate as to the specifics but you can bet the farm that it’s directly related to why they refuse to seal the border.
The commutation is good news, and infinitely better than nothing. A future president (Sarah?) can and still should pardon them.
“it’s directly related to why they refuse to seal the border”
Nail. Hammer. Head.
One of many things that have been done these past 8 years that make little sense to the masses. I just HOPE( and change?) there was a lot more going on that we didn’t know about. I guess we will have to wait for the “BUSH: BDS” autobiography to explain it.
I have to wonder what hold Johnny Sutton has on W. For him to only commute and not pardon has something to do with Johnny Sutton.
But hallelujah that they are out. He found at least one cojone today. Now I will not have to view him as the worst POTUS ever…
OK, I get to be the contrarian, sort of. I spent a lot of time in Law Enforcement. I was a Special Agent in the old USINS so I did a lot of what Compean and Ramos did work wise only I didn’t wear a uniform and I worked in town.
The Federal government’s policey on the use of deadly force is clear. Deadly force may only be used to protect the life of ones self, a fellow officer or an innocent third party…period. Compean and Ramos violated that policy.
These two shot a man who was running away from them. They then tried to cover up the incident. The claim the shootee had a gun and brandished it at them. If they made a report to that effect probably the most they would have had to endure was a repremand, and I bet they wouldn’t have gotten that. The didn’t do that and instead destroyed evidence and lied to their superiors. Concealing evidence is considered guilty knowledge. That’s the way it is folks.
They got caught and Johnny Sutton, with the consent of the Justice Department and probably the president decided to make an example of them.
I don’t believe for a minute that this was collusion between the Bush administration and Johnny Sutton. I believe it was collusion between the Bush administration and the Mexican government.
These two should have lost their jobs for what they did and nothing more. The U.S. Attorney should have declined prosecution in this case in favor of dismissal by the Border Patrol of the two agents.
Bush should have commutted the sentences of these two men long ago and that he didn’t is a travesty.
That dosen’t make Ramos and Compean “Heros.” They aren’t that by a long shot.
Dang,I don’t believe it. These Bushes are the most lousey lowlife forms of politicians I ever seen. They should of pardon these heros on day one to send a message to drug dealers and the mex government. Another after another after another failed opportunity under the Bush admin. In this case, better than nothing? To me, is good for these guys, but not for me! I WILL NOT PARDON THE BUSHES NOR VOTE FOR THEM!!! Jeb Bush is talking about running? HILL NO! NO MORE BUSHES!! And if the Rs want to push Jeb, I will go independent on them!
If it were not for the fact that an empty suit con artist will be sworn in tomorrow, I would celebrate George W. Bush’s leaving the White House.
It is finished..Thank God. If it were not for Tammy and others and us, I am sure this would of been overlooked and not done. I am grateful for it and at this point Tammy; it’s a good thing. As of tomorrow I am in mourning..
God bless these men and I have no doubt that they will, in time, exonerated.
When I heard the news I was overjoyed and grateful. I never thought Bush would do it. I’m thankful he did. The ordeal will soon be over for these men and their families. I believe the people who gave them support through these difficult years will not forget them and help them rebuild their lives. It certainly was a harsh penalty but Bush dragged out their unjust suffering to the last possible minute and then it was a commutation not a pardon. The insult about their reputations was uncalled for. I am too weary of Bush to get angry any more.
Via con Dios Mr. Ramos and Mr. Compean. Good riddance Mr. Bush.
These guys went to jail for shooting a g*dda*n drug mule in one of his a*scheeks…this country is sick unto death
Bush only commuted their sentences? What a perfect end to a self-righteous, mediocre-except-in-terms-of-destruction presidency. Bush’s support of this Mexican invasion of America was what caused me to scrape off the bumper sticker from my truck a couple years ago and never look back. I almost believe if the Border Patrol guys names were Smith and Wilson, they’d continue to rot in prison.