Bush commutes sentences of former US border agents

It is about time he did this! Even this commutation is the barest minimum the President could do for these poor scapegoats. They should have been pardoned and given reprimands for not shooting the drug smuggler dead, then returned to their jobs and see how many more smugglers try the border.

Also, this was not really a debate about illegal immigrants, it was a debate about border security. This is a border for the country, not the border of a playground. If we have to fence off our playgrounds because of criminals and drug smugglers, why are the national borders not being closed to these scum? If prosecutors are allowing tons of drugs to be carried over the border, then what is going to stop tons of bombs? Even nuclear or biological weapons? That is what I am really worried about!

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D95QC5OO0&show_article=1

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.

Rancor over their convictions, sentencing and firings has simmered ever since the shooting occurred in 2005.

Ramos and Compean became a rallying point among conservatives and on talk shows where their supporters called them heroes. Nearly the entire bipartisan congressional delegation from Texas and other lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle pleaded with Bush to grant them clemency.

Bush didn't pardon the men for their crimes, but decided instead to commute their prison 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.