Democrat Says Ramos and Compean Commutation Not Good Enough — And Immigration Reform Patriots Must Co-operate

By Donald A. Collins

01/22/2009

As my readers may recall, on December 26, 2008 VDARE.COM ran my piece entitled "Democrat Regretfully Predicts No Pardons for Ramos and Compean".

Well, as everyone now knows, on January 19th, we got from George Bush on his last full day in office what, for these poor heroes and their families, was, I feel sure, the welcome decision to have their sentences commuted. I guess it proves again that politics is the art of the possible.

For that we can all be grateful — but far from satisfied, since the intent of the original charges, to intimidate Border Patrol officers and discourage them from doing their duties, was likely in part achieved.

There were many comments from those of us who have been for the past two years pleading for justice. But one of the best I have seen was just received from Mr. Frank Jorge, founder of the Antelope Valley Independent Minutemen:

"The false imprisonment and politically motivated persecution of Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean has taken a positive turn with the commutation of their sentences by George W. Bush on his last day as president. It has been reported that Texas congressman, John Culberson hand delivered a bi-partisan request from Texan government officials (34 of 37 ) for an end to the unjust imprisonment of these men whom many of us hold in high esteem and regard as American heroes.

The terms of the commutation are as follows:

They will be on supervised release

These men, Compean and Ramos, continue to be victimized by the George Bush political machine. They should be exonerated, their records wiped clean, their jobs restored with back pay, an apology, and restitution for the injustice they and their families have endured made.

A further investigation into the machinations of Texas prosecutor Johnny Sutton and all others involved in the framing of these officers must be made and justice meted out with the probable incarceration of Sutton and his accomplices as its goal. George Bush has without doubt reflected upon the liabilities to himself as a former president going back to Texas where he has decided to live. He granted a commutation in order to spare himself … not the two agents.

Why do they have to wait two months before being released from prison? They should have been released long ago. This was a politically motivated prosecution from the beginning with the purpose of making Border Patrol agents think twice before protecting our borders and to keep the borders open.

Of the prosecution of these agents Texas Rep Ted Poe said in November, "These two guys are political prisoners". Los Angeles California Radio station KFI’s John and Ken have said that they will host a fund raiser for the agents and their families in the near future . Joe Loya, father in law of agent Ramos said that he had faith that this day would come. I thank those of you that attended our AVIMM rally held in Santa Clarita along with Roger Gitlin’s SCVIMM a few months back and met Joe Loya and his family. Thank you once again for your donations made on that day directly to Mr Loya.

President Bush leaves office as possibly the worst president in American history. A man who will be remembered as a small, petty human being that sacrificed our nations honor to illegal aliens from third world countries for political gain. He will be remembered for having kept the borders open in spite of the public outcry to secure them and to enforce immigration law.

Bush’s presidency after eight years has seen America degraded as our nation’s wealth evaporated on his watch and thousands of Americans grieve after their loved ones were murdered or assaulted by the illegal aliens that he allowed into our nation. He will be remembered for having destroyed the Republican Party, the stability of our nation and the hopes of its citizens."

My comments:

Ok so far, Mr. Jorge. However, you go on in your email, to finger the new President as a "Marxist" and a possible illegal alien. As a Democrat who supported Ramos and Compean, I find this hard to take.

Of course, Mr. Jorge, you are right when you close your statement with "The future of our nation is in the hands of American men and women who recognize the Constitution as the highest law of our land and who honor God without reservation." [Although I would suggest, Mr. Jorge, that each of us gets to choose which God, if any, we genuflect to]. "We will prevail in the restoration of our Republic but tough times are ahead for our nation. We must persevere. We will not fail. Thank you for your efforts on behalf of our nation."

That would certainly include a lot of us, Mr. Jorge, who were anxious about and involved in trying to free Officers Ramos and Compean.

As a Democrat I was regretful that only a few in my party were among those signing the letter to Bush which apparently tipped the scales of Justice in Ramos and Compean’s favor at the 11th hour.

The time has come in our politics at all levels to do better, on immigration reform and many other key issues. It really is time for all of us to hold off on specious ad hominem charges, which do nothing to point the way to clear and sensible policies. Nowhere could that need be greater than in trying to fashion a possible immigration reform compromise. Clearly renewal of E-verify must be the key starting point.

My final comment to Frank Jorge: Whatever your party or your biases, you certainly understand the gravity of our situation as a nation. Our new President will need all the help he can muster from every source possible. Let’s change the tone and the approach — for, as Benjamin Franklin opined at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, "We must all hang together or assuredly we will all hang separately."

Donald A. Collins is a freelance writer living in Washington DC and a former long time member of the board of FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. His views are his own.

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