During his farewell news conference, President Bush pointed to several policy miscues, mistaken decisions, and faulty assumptions that marred his presidency.
Something he neglected to mention was the deplorable treatment of U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who were each sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for trying to apprehend a Mexican drug smuggler.
On Feb. 17, 2005, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila was spotted smuggling 743 pounds of marijuana across the Texas border. After a high-speed chase, the unarmed Aldrete-Davila resisted arrest and tried to escape back to Mexico on foot. Both agents fired at him, hitting him once in the buttocks. For reasons they later acknowledged were imprudent, the agents did not tell their superiors about the shooting. Even so, an official investigation was started after Aldrete-Davila’s mother-in-law complained (about the shooting, not the drugs).
Ramos and Compean were charged with using a firearm in the commission of a violent crime and violating Aldrete-Davila’s civil rights. The agents refused to admit guilt or agree to a plea bargain offered by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton. When Aldrete-Davila was again caught smuggling drugs during the agents’ trials, Sutton withheld the information from jurors. Ramos and Compean were convicted and sentenced to more than a decade each behind bars, based in part on testimony by Aldrete-Davila, who had been granted federal immunity.
A reprimand for not reporting the shooting was in order, but sending Ramos and Compean to prison for trying to stop a drug smuggler seeking to flee justice was excessive. Too often, a pathological sense of “compassion” makes us coddle criminals like Aldrete-Davila, but throw the book at law enforcement officers whenever they err. The public eventually pays the price for such misguided policies.
Ramos and Compean have already served nearly two years, mostly in solitary confinement to protect them from other prisoners. Even Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has asked President Bush to at least commute their sentences. Pardoning them before he leaves the White House next week would be even better.
Bush should also extend clemency to former vice-presidential aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, convicted of perjury for lying about a CIA leak that State Department official Richard Armitage — who wasn’t punished — publicly admitted he made.
And how about pardoning the three Americans who were each sentenced to eight years in federal prison for violating a Honduran regulation regarding packaging of lobsters. Presidential pardons were made for cases like these.
