EckerNet.Com

In the 11th hour of his presidency, President Bush finally decided to commute the sentences of two former Border Control Agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean.

On his last full day in office, President Bush commuted the controversial sentences of two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a Mexican drug runner in 2005.

The imprisonment of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean had sparked outcry from critics who said the men were just doing their jobs and were punished too harshly. They had been sentenced to 11- and 12-year sentences, respectively.

Their sentences will now expire on March 20 of this year.

It\’s really the least that Bush could do, as these Border Control Agents were simply enforcing the law, something that President Bush didn\’t have the backbone to do.

While it\’s good to see that Bush finally came to his senses regarding these two agents whom never should have been prosecuted to begin with.  It\’s sad to see however, that it took him two years to finally come around to that, and that he didn\’t pardon them.  He just commutted their senses and they still have to stay in jail until March 20th.

With the commution instead of a pardon, President Bush didn\’t even address the side-effects of Ramos and Compean\’s convictions.  Because of their prosecution, we now have a Border Patrol force that is literally afraid to do their jobs, or even return fire when fired upon.  The threat of prosecution for actually controling the border weighs heavily over every action the Border Patrol makes.  A pardon would at least have sent the message that these two didn\’t really do anything wrong, even though it took two years to decide that.

No, instead the miscarriage of justice was simply shortened rather than corrected.  But from President Bush, that\’s about the best we can expect on the border enforcement issue.  What\’s worse it wasn\’t likely to get better, regardless of which candidate won the November election.

[Crossposted at True North]