Posted on 02/17/2009 8:32:21 AM PST by STARWISE
At 3 a.m. mountain time, former Border Patrol agent Jose Compean was released from the Elkton Federal Prison in Elkton, Ohio. Former agent Ignacio Ramos was released about five hours later from the Phoenix Federal Prison in Phoenix, Ariz.
Ramos and Compean will officially be released from Federal Bureau of Prison custody on March 20th, but on Tuesday both were allowed to rejoin their families. They had been in prison since January 2007.
Ramos and Compean were in prison for shooting drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete Davila and then trying to cover it up.
On President Bush’s last day in office, Jan. 19, 2009, he commuted the sentences of the two former Border Patrol agents.
KFOX has a crew in Phoenix covering the reunion and we will have much more on KFOX News at Six, KFOX News at Nine, and kfoxtv.com.
Out of prison .. home detention .. with their families.
~~~
Compean, Ramos Held Under Home Confinement
Tuesday, February 17, 2009 – updated: 5:18 pm MST February 17, 2009
Former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean will be held in “home confinement”, a form of house arrest, which means they’re still under Bureau of Prisons supervision.
On March 20 both will be free men.
Ramos and Compean are famous names that will be forever associated with a controversial shooting at the Mexican border.
Their families indicate the men will remain in the El Paso area in the near future.
But it’s clear these are families very distrustful of the government.
Relatives knew the men were to be released from the Ohio and Phoenix federal prisons Tuesday morning — but told only KFOX and a handful of close supporters.
They were worried the Bureau of Prisons would delay the men’s release if word got out too widely too quickly. They even ducked our cameras in Ohio.
KFOX got exclusive images of the family and interviews with Ramos’ wife in Phoenix.
Both men are eager to tell their stories, but KFOX was told they’re prohibited from doing so until at least March 20 — when they’re officially released from Bureau of Prisons custody.
http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/18735552/detail.html
There was an article explaining why it could not be a pardon at the time President Bush commuted their sentences. I don’t remember the details, but it was something in the law.
Bush should have pardoned these two men and Gilmer Hernandez.
That is spin. The presidential pardon power is unconstrained. He didn’t want to pardon them.
I recall it, and recall the reason being the conviction was on appeal and they wanted to continue with the appeal for the purposes of clearing their names completely.
yeah, he comuted their sentences after how long??????????????
His offense? He showed the world that even a wanted (in the US) sex offender could live openly in Mexico, with the right bribes.
Thanks for the good news. Now the push for amnesty will be fierce. The anti illegal alien groups are trying to organize. Here’s some, unfortuately, FR won’t allow the article to be posted.
Enforcement group to announce agenda against Illegal alien amnesty
Examiner.com ^ | Feb. 17, 2009 | by Jim Kouri
http://www.examiner.com/x-2684-Law-Enforcement-Examiner~y2009m2d17-Enforcement-group-to-announce-agenda-against-Illegal-alien-amnesty
Sorry upchuck...didn’t mean for that post to come off so sarcastic. Just frustrated at how these things happen in the first place. Either way I’m happy they are home with their families. Have a nice day. :)
It's coming sooner or later. But if Obama can pass it now, I believe that would make it harder for him to pass his health care, since most of the amnestied would need the government to pay for their health care. And the actual numbers of the amnestied would become clearer.
IMO Obama would be stupid to push it now. His popularity seems to be going down, and he has to decide what to spend his "political capital" on. He has broken many campaign promises. Now he got their votes and he can double-cross them. In this case, I hope he does break his promise. He will probably find something or somebody to blame.
Hallelujah, I’m so glad they are out earlier than was announced. That is not uncommon.
What a glorious day. I don’t know how I missed these threads yesterday. I was online quite a lot, and only turned on TV much later.
I’m so happy for these men and their families. Now, for a pardon for each one and we’ll be done with what was an awful mistake in prosecuting them.
Over-reaction.
It is my understanding they could still receive a pardon, to completely clear their records.
However, there is no one to do it until Sarah becomes POTUS.
Not in the least. I am beyond sick and tired of seeing President Bush ripped here despite the fact that he did the best he could during THE most trying period in American history since WWII. Was his presidency perfect? Of course not! Only the youngest children expect to find perfection anywhere in this world.
I'm not excusing those areas where GWB's administration made mistakes. What I am looking for here -- at long last -- is balance and fairness toward the man and his record.
No prob. I, too, wonder why President Bush waited so long.
You reacted hugely to a slight turn of phrase...”he swallowed his pride.”
We can imagine it took that or some effort equally difficult for him,in order to commute the sentences of these two fine defenders of America. It took an enormous amount of pressure from the public, and oh, a letter signed by every Congressional representative from Texas.
So, how does “swallowing his pride” compare with that?
How does such a statement compare with the fact that he called us vigilantes, spoke of “jobs Americans won’t do” over and over and over, and left Ramos and Compean twisting in the wind when he could have done something much sooner.
Nephi’s statement is nothing compared to the fact that the California economy is now in the toilet due to illegals.
The abrogation of our borders and allowing the presence of 20 million illegals in our midst was a huge blind spot in the vision of President GWB. The border should have been closed on 9/12/01, and he could have done it.
So now you're into telling other people how they should and should not react to things. Well get let me make this crystal clear. I do NOT buy into all the hoo-ha over Ramos and Compean, which means I have a different point of view than you do about this matter. Last I checked, I am equally as entitled to my point of view as you are to yours.
Who said you’re not entitled to your opinion?
However, you were not honest up until this point about your view that Ramos and Compean are criminals.
You were being defensive re GWB.
Anyway, forget it. I don’t have time for this.
Good, because you're way out of line.
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