Thread: Pushing for border agents' pardon

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/opinions/ci_5102795

Pushing for border agents' pardon
Article Launched: 1/27/2007

THOUGH President Bush hasn't promised a pardon, he at least has agreed to review the case against two border agents convicted of shooting a suspected drug smuggler.

And though we wish Bush had chosen to review the case before the two had already been incarcerated, we hope he won't take too long to grant the two Border Patrol agents a reprieve.

"According to a jury of their peers, these officers violated some standards," Bush said last week, a day after Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean turned themselves into federal custody.

But after the public uproar over the ignominious verdict, Bush said he plans to take a look at the evidence the jury had before weighing in himself. That is a just decision. And yet, whether or not Bush agrees with prosecutors that the two did something wrong, the punishment of 11 years in prison for Ramos and 12 years for Compean is far worse than the alleged crime.

The agents' lawyers argued that the agents, who fired on suspected drug smuggler Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila after a foot chase across the Texas-Mexico border in February 2005, did so because they believed he had a gun in his hand.

Aldrete-Davila had fled a van the agents were pursuing. They shot him in the buttocks. It later turned out that the van held more than 700 pounds of marijuana, worth nearly $1million.

But prosecutors were able to prove that Aldrete-Davila did not have a gun; that the agents could not have known at the time that he was a drug smuggler, and that the agents were not authorized to pursue him anyway.

While prosecutors argued successfully that the agents violated Aldrete-Davila's civil rights, they seemed to forget about the fact that after the suspect fled across the border, the U.S. Attorney's Office brought him back to the United States, promising him full immunity and medical treatment, so that he'd testify against the agents.

The nature of the case against the agents is so outrageous that it has brought about the first-ever attempt at a congressional pardon. And yet, the final decision on a pardon rests with the president.

We ask that Bush waste no time in reaching a conclusion that Ramos and Compean were, first and foremost, doing their job of trying to secure the safety of the border. And that they should not be punished with time in prison, especially when Aldrete-Davila's freedom comes at their expense.

THOUGH President Bush hasn't promised a pardon, he at least has agreed to review the case against two border agents convicted of shooting a suspected drug smuggler.

And though we wish Bush had chosen to review the case before the two had already been incarcerated, we hope he won't take too long to grant the two Border Patrol agents a reprieve.

It would be great if there was indepth unbiased investigation made by people without any agenda, other than to find out the whole truth. That would be SO REFRESHING!

It would be great if there was indepth unbiased investigation made by people without any agenda, other than to find out the whole truth. That would be SO REFRESHING![/quote]


but who is that person???
thats the question and the problem all at once.

Good question......I hope there is someone, somewhere...that will take on the challenge to be unbiased and thorough just to bring justice to this situation.

Senator Feinstein wrote a letter to Sen Arlen Specter back in Aug asking for an investigation into this situation but nothing was done. And now since the Dems are in control of Congress they are suddenly deaf and dumb regarding these agents.

That makes my blood boil Jean, there is just no end to this insanity!

I believe we have to remain outspoken and loud on this because the powers that be want it to just go away and they hope we will not care enough to continue fighting to know the truth. I know that if I was behind bars under such suspicious and seemingly unfair circumstance. I would want those on the outside to continue to fight, so that all of the facts of the situation were brought to light, so justice could truly prevail.

April, there are reps that will not let this go. Dana Rohrbacher is one of the most outspoken regarding getting the agents pardoned. Found his email if you want to thank him: Dana@mail.house.gov

Wonderful! Thanks for the email. I will definitely thank him!