Within 24 hours of his leaving office, President Bush has commuted the Federal prison sentences of former US Border Patrol agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos, as they were sentenced to ten years in Federal prison for doing their jobs.
President Bush commuted their existing sentence only, nothing else. Ideally, he would have pardoned them fully, eliminating their felony convictions. Ideally, President Bush would have not had a U.S. Attorney in the person of Johnny Suttonfong that would have brought charges against them. Ideally, we wouldn’t have an open borders administration like the Bush administration, or the one that’s about to come into power tomorrow, or the seven administrations before now.
But, c’est la vie. Considering the reality that confronts us, this was the best thing that could have happened for Ramos and Compean. Still, the damage to the morale of the U.S. Border Patrol has been done.
UDPATE: The commutation is such that they will be released in March. For those of you who worry that incoming President Obama could undo it, remember that pardons and commutations on the part of the President are absolute and irreversible.
