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Editorial: A silver lining in Ramos, Compean commutations

05:26 PM CST on Tuesday, January 20, 2009

One of the more controversial things an outgoing president can do is to hand out pardons and commutations like party favors. To his credit, President George W. Bush generally demonstrated restraint and wise judgment on this issue during his final days in office.

Contrast this with Bill Clinton’s pardon of tax evader Marc Rich, whose ex-wife contributed to the president’s library foundation. Or the acts of other presidents who have used the power to settle their own political debts.

We're pleased that Bush didn't follow suit in considering several high-profile cases. For instance, consider that of former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who was convicted of lying to investigators about the leak of a CIA agent's identity. Bush had already commuted Libby's sentence but did not upgrade it to a pardon.

However, this newspaper does not agree with Bush's decision to commute the sentences of former border agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who, respectively, were serving 11- and 12-year federal prison terms for shooting a Mexican drug dealer. This was a despicable crime: The two officers had no idea the unarmed man was trafficking in drugs when they shot him in the back side as he ran for the border near El Paso. They then took extraordinary steps to cover up the shooting with a false report.

Their actions are an affront to Border Patrol agents who perform a difficult and thankless job, and the pair's sentences were upheld last year by a federal appeals court.

It’s regrettable that Bush shortened their jail time but significant that he found middle ground and didn’t grant them pardons. Their convictions will remain on the record.

Perhaps the commutation will end the undeserved celebrity status that had erupted around these two former agents. Anti-immigration organizations have used them as poster boys to perpetuate a myth that they were in prison for doing their jobs while drug smugglers were allowed to go free.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Ramos and Compean committed felonies and were rightly brought to justice. Perhaps now the Obama administration can have a comprehensive immigration discussion without this distraction clouding the conversation.