Critics decry Bush's inaction on pardons for border agents

By Johanna Neuman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 23, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Conservatives expressed bitter disappointment Friday that President Bush did not use the Thanksgiving holiday to pardon two U.S. border agents who have been imprisoned for a year for shooting and injuring an accused drug smuggler at the border.

"We had hoped that President Bush, who was compassionate enough to pardon two turkeys in the Rose Garden, might also have had enough compassion to pardon two law enforcement officers who spent their lives defending us at the border," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif.

A group of Christian and evangelical leaders -- including Paul M. Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation, Louis P. Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition and David A. Keene of the American Conservative Union -- excoriated Bush for a moral lapse in the case, saying inaction runs counter to compassionate conservatism and Christian values.

"It's unfortunate that the president missed the opportunity to demonstrate his compassion," the group said Friday. "Such an act would have exemplified the fellowship and spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday and put to rest heart-felt concerns over the inhumane treatment of these two agents."

The furor over the conviction and imprisonment of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean has provoked considerable debate -- CNN's Lou Dobbs has made it a staple of his coverage of immigration issues, and conservative bloggers regularly assail Bush on the issue. The White House has said only that Bush would review pardon petitions on a case-by-case basis.

Johnny Sutton, the U.S. prosecutor for the western district of Texas, has defended the decision to prosecute the border agents. Sutton has said that he did not prosecute law enforcement officials lightly but that, "Most agents would say what these guys did was outrageous."

Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have weighed in, saying the case highlights the difficulties of securing the border amid an intense national debate about immigration. After a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing in July, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., called on the president to commute the 11- and 12-year sentences of the two agents.

"The sentence does not match the crime," she said in a statement, calling the case an example of "prosecutorial overreach" and "a serious miscarriage of justice."

A recent development in the case could further increase pressure on the White House to intervene. The suspected smuggler shot by the officers in February 2005 has been indicted for bringing marijuana into the United States during September and October 2005 -- the very period when he was in the country on a humanitarian visa so he could testify against the agents.

"The latest disclosures show that the government knew the alleged drug smuggler was a career criminal," said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing over 12,000 border agents. "He was their star witness. They portrayed him as a down-on-his-luck kid looking for $1,000 to pay for his mother's medical care."

Ramos and Compean were accused of assault with intent to commit murder, and with a cover-up. Prosecutors said that on Feb. 17, 2005, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila led Border Patrol agents on a high speed chase ending about 120 yards from Mexico, where he abandoned a van with 743 pounds of marijuana and ran for the border.

Compean shot several times and missed, Ramos fired once, hitting Aldrete in the left buttock but failing to stop his getaway. Then, said prosecutors, instead of filing the paperwork required in all shooting incidents, Compean hid some of the evidence. Compean and Ramos said they did not think they hit Aldrete, so they skipped the paperwork -- a lapse normally punishable by a five-day suspension. They have maintained that they thought Aldrete was armed.

But a jury convicted the two agents in February 2006 of tampering with evidence, obstructing justice, violating the wounded alleged smuggler's civil rights and unlawfully discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, which carries a mandatory minimum 10-year sentence. The two have appealed their conviction, and the appeal is due to be argued before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Dec. 3.

Some critics are hoping that the recent appointment of a new attorney general, Michael B. Mukasey, might prompt a fresh review by the Justice Department. Neither the Justice Department nor the White House had any comment Friday about whether a review is under way.

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