Bravo:

Bush Commutes Sentences for Two Former Border Patrol Agents
President Bush commutes the sentences of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, convicted of shooting a Mexican drug runner in 2005.


On his last full day in office, President Bush commuted the 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 two were just doing their jobs. They had been sentenced to 11- and 12-year sentences, respectively.

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

The two were sentenced in connection with the shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, who was shot in the buttocks while trying to flee along the Texas border. He admitted smuggling several hundred pounds of marijuana on the day he was shot and pleaded guilty last year to drug charges related to two other smuggling attempts.

Bush has been cautious in his use of pardon powers, and particularly careful when it comes to commutations of prison terms. Where a pardon is an official forgiveness of a crime (typically requested at least five years after the completion of a prison term), a commutation is a reduction of sentence.

Before Monday, the outgoing president had granted 171 pardons and nine commutations. By comparison, President Clinton granted 396 pardons and 61 commutations, many on his last day in office. President Reagan granted 393 pardons and 13 commutations.

More at Fox News

Labels: border control, Border Patrol, Ignacio Ramos, illegal immigration, Jose Alonso Compean, politics, President George W. Bush

STANDING WATCH
A U.S. Army National Guard soldier assigned to the 29th Brigade Combat Team stands watch at the Mexican border, March 12, 2008. U.S. Army Sgt. Jim Greenhill

Labels: 29th Brigade Combat Team, Army National Guard, border control, photos

BUSH VISITS TROOPS - President George W. Bush thanks members of the National Guard for helping the Border Patrol crack down on illegal entry into America, during a speech in Yuma, Ariz., April 9, 2007. White House photo by Eric Draper

Labels: border control, Border Patrol, Connecticut National Guard, immigration, photos, President George W. Bush

Would someone explain to me why we aren't securing our borders? Oh, that's because everyone coming across is just peaceful, benevolent, and looking for a better life, right?

No, nothing untoward goes on at the border - and if there is trouble, it's just caused by us American meanies, trying to deny these poor people their "right" to enter the country.

Tell that to the National Guard:

Gunmen Attack National Guard Border Patrol Site in Arizona

Friday, January 05, 2007
Associated Press

TUCSON, Ariz. — National Guard troops working at an observatory post near the Mexican border were forced to flee after being approached by a group of armed individuals, authorities said.

The event occurred about 11 p.m. Wednesday at one of the National Guard entrance identification team posts near Sasabe, said National Guard Sgt. Edward Balaban.

He said the troops withdrew safely, no shots were fired and no one suffered injuries.

U.S. Border Patrol officials are investigating the incident and trying to determine who the armed people were, what they were doing and why they approached the post before retreating to Mexico.

The incident occurred in the west desert corridor between Nogales and Lukeville in the vicinity of Sasabe, Balaban said.

"We don't know exactly how many because obviously it took place in the dark," Balaban said. "Nobody was able to get an accurate count."

The Guard troops are not allowed to apprehend illegal entrants...

OK, so we have troops who are not allowed to apprehend anyone, not allowed to fire - hell, if we're going to do that, why not make it a U.N. operation??

Isn't this sort of thing - armed persons from another nation advancing on our troops - an act of war? And this isn't the first such incident - only in the past, they have fired at Border Patrol agents.

What were they intending to do this time, bring care packages?




Make sure you've taken any needed blood pressure medication before reading the rest of the story here

Labels: border control, immigration, opinion