TANCREDO CELEBRATES BUSH'S COMMUTATION OF AGENTS' SENTENCES

In one of his last acts in office, President George W. Bush gave two
former immigration officers their freedom and former Rep. Tom Tancredo
an unexpected parting victory.

The fervent anti-illegal-immigration congressman worked for three
years with other Republicans to free former U.S. Border Patrol agents
Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.

Bush on Monday commuted their sentences. The men were convicted of
improperly shooting a Mexican man later convicted of drug smuggling.

Even the impending inauguration of a Democrat couldn't spoil
Tancredo's day, he said.

"It has been a labor of love, because I believe . . . they were
unjustly incarcerated and persecuted. And I mean persecuted," he said.
"Now I have something to really celebrate."

Ramos and Compean, sentenced to 11 and 12 years, respectively, have
spent two years in prison. After their release March 20, they will
face three years of supervision.

The agents' 2005 case became a rallying cause for conservatives
concerned about border protection.

The two were convicted of shooting admitted drug smuggler Osvaldo
Aldrete Davila in the buttocks as he fled across the Rio Grande, away
from an abandoned vanload of marijuana.

The agents claimed at their trials that they shot him in self-defense.
The prosecutor in the case said there was no evidence linking the
smuggler to the van. The prosecutor also said the border agents didn't
report the shooting and tampered with evidence.

White House officials said Bush commuted their sentences because he
believed they were excessive and that the agents had already suffered
the loss of their jobs, freedom and reputations.