On the border of true justice

In the midst of all the hoopla about hope and change during the inauguration, you may have missed some real change that took place at the tail end of the Bush administration - namely the commutation of the sentences of Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos and Jose Compean.

Ramos and Compean are the two former Border Patrol agents who were convicted of shooting a Mexican drug smuggler as he ran from them in February 2005. As a result of the shooting, Ramos and Compean were sentenced to prison for 11 and 12 years respectively.

The details of the case are somewhat hazy, but what is known is that Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila admitted he was smuggling 750 pounds of marijuana across the border on the day he was shot, the two Border Patrol agents were acting in their official capacity when they pursued Aldrete-Davila, and the U.S. justice system ultimately sided with the bad guy and threw the good guys in jail.

That, indeed, is where they remain to this day, because President Bush - in one last concession to Mexico - decided as part of his commutation order to let Ramos and Compean remain in jail until March 20, apparently so they could serve two full years of humiliation behind bars.

And perhaps more than humiliation. Don't forget that these two former Border Patrol agents are housed in federal prisons with many Mexican inmates sent there by none other than the Border Patrol. By leaving Ramos and Compean in prison for two months, Bush is inviting mayhem.

Ramos was already attacked when he was housed at the Yazoo City Federal Penitentiary in Mississippi in 2007. Five inmates who had seen a report about Ramos and Compean on "America's Most Wanted" had recognized Ramos as a former Border Patrol agent. The men who attacked him are believed to have been illegal immigrants and they yelled in Spanish "Maten a la migra!" or "Kill the Border Patrol agent!" while they kicked and punched him.

Despite the no-doubt considerable efforts of prison authorities to keep these celebrity prisoners safe, it is an invitation to trouble to keep them behind bars any longer.

President Bush ought to have given Ramos and Compean a full pardon so that they could return to their lives as honorable Latinos working to protect their homeland, the United States of America.

Whether or not Ramos and Compean made all the right decisions in how they handled this particular case, they were doing their best to do their job and keep the rest of us safe from drug smugglers and illegal immigrants. And the imprisonment of Ramos and Compean has sent a dangerous signal to both the good guys and the bad guys.

On Dec. 1, south of Tucson, Ariz., for instance, there was an incident when smugglers trying to bring drugs across the Mexican border fired automatic weapons at Border Patrol agents. The agents, apparently afraid of losing their jobs a la Ramos and Compean, did not return fire. With rules of engagement like that, the Border Patrol ought to just give their agents hammers and nails so they can put up welcome signs at the border: "Bienvenidos a los Estados Unidos!"

Now, if President Barack Obama truly wants to demonstrate that he is a non-partisan advocate of fairness and justice, he can finish the job George Bush started and give a full pardon to Ramos and Compean. Let them get back to work patrolling the border and turn Homeland Security into something more than a slogan.

n Frank Miele is managing editor of the Daily Inter Lake and writes a weekly column. E-mail responses may be sent to edit@dailyinterlake.com