Bush on border agents: 'I'm not talking pardons'

Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean

President Bush has extensively discussed his immigration reform policy in exit interviews and given a $60,000 bonus to a Border Patrol chief who has been criticized for not supporting Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean – but he refuses to talk about whether pardons could be in store for the imprisoned agents.

In a Jan. 6 interview with John Gizzi, political editor of Human Events, Bush said he regrets that the comprehensive immigration bill he endorsed did not prevail.

"Well, I'm sorry it didn't pass, because I felt strongly that the comprehensive approach to immigration reform was necessary for border enforcement, as well as recognizing that there are people willing to do work Americans won't do," Bush said. "[W]ithout the law, by the way, we did put fence up, and the border is becoming more secure. People are now recognizing the truth that there are fewer crossings, and we've ended the catch and release and issues like that."

Bush expressed concern for illegal aliens who risk their lives to come to the United States.

"I don't like it when the law is so antiquated that people who are willing to do hard work become contraband, they get stuffed in the bottom of 18-wheelers in order to come and do a job that others aren't willing to do. I don't think that's right," he said.

Only two days later, the Washington Times reported Bush awarded a $61,200 bonus to Border Patrol Chief David V. Aguilar, who has been criticized by members of his own agency for refusing to support Ramos and Compean after they were sentenced to 11 and 12-year prison sentences, respectively, for shooting at an illegal alien drug dealer while he attempted to smuggle 750 pounds of marijuana across the border.

Aguilar made headlines in April 2007 when 100 top leaders of the National Border Patrol Council endorsed a no-confidence resolution against him, citing the cases of Ramos and Compean among other complaints.

There's still time to help! Send a FedEx letter to the president asking him to help Ramos and Compean.

The union, which represents 11,000 of the U.S. Border Patrol's nonsupervisory field agents, pointed to Aguilar's willingness to believe the "perjured allegations" of criminal aliens over his own agents.

"Front-line Border Patrol agents who risk their lives protecting our borders have every reason to expect that the leadership of their own agency will support them," NBPC President T.J. Bonner said in the statement. "When this does not occur, and instead they are undermined by their so-called leaders, no one should be surprised when they express a loss of confidence in those managers."

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In yet another four-page letter acquired by the Washington Times last week, anonymous field agents blasted Aguilar for damaging the agency and jeopardizing agents with his "politically expedient decisions."

There has "never been a time when our chief has been so out of touch with the field, or a time when our chief has become a politician and lost sight of his most important responsibility: to be an advocate for the agency and its mission," the letter stated. "You clearly see yourself as an agent of change for political bosses rather than a person who has been entrusted to ensure that the Border Patrol remains a top-notch law enforcement agency, ready and able to carry out its critical function."

Nonetheless, Bush presented Aguilar with the presidential merit award for "sustained extraordinary accomplishment" amounting to almost twice the starting salary of a Border Patrol agent.

However, the president wasn't as willing to provide detailed answers when asked about the agents during the exit interview.

Gizzi asked Bush, "Are you going to pardon Ramos and Compean? Are you talking with them?"

He replied flatly, "I'm not talking pardons."

There's still time to help! Send a FedEx letter to the president asking him to help Ramos and Compean.

And sign WND's petition urging President Bush to free U.S. Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.

 

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