Ramos/Compean: Free On March 20th

Thank you again to former President George W Bush... great example to other Presidents for how pardons should be used.
Another example of how you always tried to do the right thing, God bless you.

"Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) introduced a bill two years ago to pardon the two men. Although that legislation did not succeed, it did prompt President Bush to say that clemency--perhaps even a pardon--was being considered for the men."

President Bush, Free Compean and Ramos Now

Time is Running Out for President to Free Border Agents
From The Loft Blog by Bobby Eberle
November 11, 2008 at 7:28 am

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With a little over two months left in office, President Bush has the opportunity to right an incredible injustice. He has the constitutional power to pardon former Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. Unlike President Clinton in his last days in office, who used pardons as political pay-back, President Bush should step forward and grant freedom to these agents who were doing their job protecting America.

For those how haven't followed this case, Agents Ramos and Compean shot an illegal alien as he was fleeing back to the Mexican border. The illegal alien, Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, was in the process of smuggling approximately a million dollars worth of marijuana into the U.S. What happened next has set the stage for President Bush to take action in his closing days as president.

Rather than being commended for protecting America's borders, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton decided to prosecute the agents. Sutton granted Davila immunity in exchange for testimony. Sutton said the agents "shot 15 times at an unarmed, fleeing man." Sutton also claims that the agents "decided to lie about it, cover it up, destroy the evidence, pick up all the shell casings and throw them away where we couldn't find them, destroy the crime scene and then file a false report."

In a statement issued in January, 2007, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) said that it was "irresponsible" to punish Agents Ramos and Compean with jail time.

"The Border Patrol is America's first line of defense against the constant and unrelenting efforts of drug and human smugglers to illegally enter the United States," said Congressman Hunter. "Agents Compean and Ramos fulfilled their responsibilities as Border Patrol agents and rightfully pursued a suspected and fleeing drug smuggler. It is irresponsible to punish them with jail time.

"The security situation on our Southern land border requires a strong law enforcement presence. This conviction demoralizes our nation's Border Patrol and sends a clear message that we are not serious about protecting our borders and enforcing our immigration laws."

Hunter's communications director, Joe Kasper, commented at the time that the facts of this case are "so nebulous" that the case represents a "severe injustice."

"Agents Ramos and Compean felt threatened and acted appropriately to apprehend the individual. At most, an administrative punishment is required but certainly not 11- and 12-year federal prison sentences."

As Ramos and Compean languish in prison, guess what happened to the illegal alien drug dealer... In November, 2007, Davila was arrested again for drug smuggling.

The Washington Times quotes T. J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, as being critical with the timing of the indictment against Aldrete Davila.

"Osvaldo Aldrete Davila should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for these felonies two years ago," said Mr. Bonner, whose group represents more than 12,000 Border Patrol agents. "This deliberate and unconscionable delay directly resulted in the wrongful incarceration of two innocent law-enforcement officers."

According to Drug Enforcement Administration documents obtained by The Times, DEA investigators believed they had sufficient evidence to indict Aldrete Davila in late 2005, but their requests to do so were denied by Mr. Sutton's office.

President Bush has the opportunity to correct the actions by Sutton and to set Ramos and Compean free! Contact President Bush and urge him to do the right thing. A presidential pardon will allow Ramos and Compean to return to their families. Join GOPUSA in sending a message to the president.

++ Click here to send a message to President Bush urging him to pardon Ramos and Compean

Please encourage your friends and associates to send a message as well. President Bush has only two months left to take action.

Lack Of Pardon For Border Agents Ripped

Washington Times

By Jerry Seper
December 13, 2007

Republican Duncan Hunter bemoaned the pardons of drug dealers while two border agents remain in prison. (Associated Press)

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Several members of Congress derided President Bush yesterday for not including former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean among the 29 pardons that he issued this week.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican and presidential candidate, said that "two names were conspicuously missing" from the list, which included carjackers, drug dealers, a moonshiner, a man convicted of stealing government property and another sentenced for receiving kickbacks in military procurement contracts.

"By refusing to pardon agents Ramos and Compean, the president has missed yet another opportunity to correct this miscarriage of justice," he said. "The fact that the drug dealer, whose testimony sent the agents to jail has been indicted for running drugs across the border while serving as a federal witness necessitates a presidential pardon.

"Agents Ramos and Compean deserve to be pardoned and returned to their families for Christmas," he said.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California Republican, said the pardon list includes eight drug dealers, saying Mr. Bush's "heartless ignoring of the fundamental miscarriage of justice in the case of agents Ramos and Compean ... is a snub to the families and a slap in the face to millions of Americans who have pleaded with the president to show some mercy."

"Instead, he turns around and shows mercy to drug dealers and other criminals and leaves Ramos and Compean to suffer in solitary confinement," he said.

Ramos, 37, and Compean, 28, were sentenced in October 2006 to 11- and 12-year prison terms, respectively, for shooting a Mexican drug-smuggling suspect in the buttocks as he fled to Mexico after refusing their orders to stop and abandoning his van with 743 pounds of marijuana. The case is being appealed.

A federal appeals court judge, during a Dec. 3 hearing, said the government "overreacted" in the agents' prosecution. A decision could take several weeks... more