'Thank you, President Bush'

The wives of jailed former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean say they are thankful that President Bush commuted their husbands' prison sentences so they can begin to rebuild their families' lives, but they also say there still are questions to be answered.

"This isn't over," Monica Ramos said on Fox News' Glenn Beck television show today in the first interview following the announcement about the commutation.

She cited a petition pending before the U.S. Supreme Court in her husband's case, and said that now could be the focus of the family's work.

Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos were convicted and imprisoned for an encounter with now-convicted drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila. He had dropped one-third of a ton of drugs in the United States and was fleeing back into Mexico when the officers shot at him and wounded him.

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He was granted full immunity in exchange for testimony against the agents. While on that grant of immunity, he was involved in another drug smuggling incident, for which he later was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison. He was not charged for the first incident.

Patty Compean said she learned from reporters about the commutation. She told Beck that the reporter told her that her husband would be coming coming. "She said a bunch of other stuff, (but I didn't hear)," she said.

Then she went to find Monica Ramos.

"I turned the corner and I could hear screaming," she said.

Monica Ramos said she would be awaiting the response from the Supreme Court in her quest to clear her husband, who under a commutation still would carry the felony conviction, although he would be released from prison.

Patty Compean said her husband "did what he was entrusted to do that day. We forever will be proud of my husband whether he wears that badge again or not."

She said she would let her husband decide his future, but "I'm right by his side."

Both said they worked to keep their children's fathers present for their children through pictures and telephone coversations.

"Basically that was all we could do," Patty Compean said.

Monica Ramos noted her son "has great hopes of being in law enforcement."

"I would encourage him," she said.

Asked by Beck about their thoughts regarding Bush, who has for several years resisted requests to make a decision on a pardon or commutation for their husbands, both women agreed.

"I would like to thank him," Monica Ramos said. "He's given us a chance to become a family again. I did call the White House to leave the message."

Patty Compean said to Bush, "Thank you for giving us another chance to be a family."

Bush's announcement came on the last full day of his presidency.

"Thank God for this commutation," said Joseph Farah, editor of WND, who launched a petition and letter-writing campaign that re-energized the Ramos-Compean issue in the last 30 days of Bush's term. "This will end the sleepless nights for their wives and children. This is the first step toward making these families whole, again."

His petition collected more than 40,000 signatures by the time today's announcement was made, and the letter campaign produced more than 3,000 FedEx letters to the White House.

"We can only thank Joseph Farah, Jerome Corsi and the staff at WorldNetDaily because from the beginning you have been with us and you never gave up on the case," Joe Loya, Ramos' father-in-law, said today. "Your reporting had a lot to do with the decision today by President Bush to commute the sentences."

 

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Previous stories:

Bush cuts sentences of Ramos, Compean

DOJ considering commutation for Ramos, Compean

10 congressmen urge clemency for agents

Compean finally speaks from behind prison bars

Agent 'has butterflies' over chance for reprieve

Big name senators plead for agents' freedom

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

Obama's ICE candidate pleads for agents' pardon

Compean's wife wants heart-to-heart with Bush

Bush springs drug dealers, lets 2 border agents rot

Ramos-Compean treatment has border agents quivering

President Bush thinking of border agent pardons?

No mercy for jailed Border Patrol agent

Rules allow border agents to seek clemency

Border agent convictions upheld by court of appeals

What did government promise drug smuggler?

New ethics complaint targets Ramos-Compean prosecutor

'Ramos, Compean must ask for clemency'

Call renewed for pardons for border agents

Pardon me: Bush blasted for ignoring border agents

'Free agents by Christmas' plan gains momentum

House resolution wants Ramos, Compean freed

Another win for border agent who struck illegal

Feds admit smuggler lied in Ramos-Compean case

Jailed border agents plead for new trial

Rights 'denied' Ramos, Compean

Ramos, Compean feared for their lives

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