[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 51 (Wednesday, April 2, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H1944]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PRESIDENT BUSH INSULTS THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WITH HIS SELECTIVE PARDONS 
                            AND COMMUTATIONS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, on March 25, President Bush pardoned 15 
people and granted one commutation to crimes that ranged from 
falsifying records, conspiracy, bank embezzlement, dealing in firearms, 
distributing marijuana, conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, 
heroin importation, selling migratory bird parts in violation of the 
Migratory Bird Treaty Act, aiding and abetting the escape of a 
prisoner, distributing more than 50 grams of crack cocaine, and a 
variety of other crimes.
  This brings to about 157 the number of pardons and/or commutations 
that President Bush has distributed in his administration in his term 
in office. And although that number is fewer than other presidents, it 
in fact is reflective of something that I consider to be a serious 
problem, and that is this, that although the President has been 
compassionate or for whatever reason chosen to commute or pardon 157 
people up to this point in time, he leaves two Border Patrol agents in 
jail today because I believe of the misbehavior of the U.S. Attorney in 
that particular district. And this is unconscionable.
  This House actually voted last session unanimously to in fact deny 
funding to the Department of Justice to continue to hold Border Patrol 
agents Ramos and Compean in the Federal prison where they have been 
incarcerated now for well over a year. And their terms are for 11 and 
12 years. This is because they have been sentenced because of the 
testimony of a known drug smuggler by the name of Osvaldo Aldrete-
Davila, who was given immunity from prosecution by U.S. Attorney 
Sutton.
  The SUV that Aldrete was driving was found to contain 743 pounds of 
marijuana. The jury in the Ramos-Compean trial was never told of 
Aldrete's criminal background. They were led to believe that Aldrete 
was a one-time smuggler trying to make money to help a sick relative. 
In fact, he was a professional drug smuggler, and his history was known 
to the DEA and to Johnny Sutton, who was the prosecuting attorney, at 
the time of the trial, but this history was kept from the jury.
  It has been revealed in documents since the trial that U.S. Attorney 
Johnny Sutton deliberately delayed the arrest of Aldrete for a 
subsequent drug smuggling incident that occurred while Aldrete was 
under the grant of immunity but before the trial date. All of this 
information, of course, was withheld because it would have revealed 
Aldrete as a professional smuggler, not an innocent victim of the 
Border Patrol agents. This is a flagrant abuse of prosecutorial 
discretion.
  These mistakes were compounded by asking for a mandatory 10-year 
sentence for Ramos and Compean for the use of a firearm in the 
commission of a ``crime.'' The law was never intended to apply to law 
officers who use their weapons in the performance of their jobs.
  The key question at the trial was whether the drug smuggler Aldrete 
had a weapon and had pointed it at one of the Border Patrol agents. Mr. 
Aldrete denied having such a weapon. It was his word against the 
testimony of the Border Patrol agents, so the credibility of each 
witness was critical to the jury's evaluation of the incident, yet the 
jury was kept in the dark about Aldrete's other arrests and his history 
as a drug smuggler.
  The mistakes made by Ramos and Compean in trying to apprehend Mr. 
Aldrete should have been handled as a violation of agency rules, the 
failure to write and file a report of an incident involving Aldrete, 
and punished by a 5-day suspension, not by criminal prosecution. For 
that reason alone, this conduct rises to the level of reprehensible, 
the conduct I believe of the U.S. Attorney in this case and of the 
President of the United States.
  To compound the injustice in this case, it is widely known that the 
U.S. Attorney is a friend of the President, going back to his days as 
Governor. But Bush's refusal to issue a pardon or a commutation amounts 
to a coverup I believe of this misconduct in this trial.
  Ramos and Compean have appealed their conviction to the U.S. Circuit 
Court and a decision on that appeal is due shortly. At the very least 
they deserve a new trial. President Bush has it within his power to end 
this injustice now by issuing a pardon or a commutation. I sincerely 
hope that he takes that responsibility seriously and offers this to Mr. 
Ramos and Mr. Compean, who are languishing in prison for literally no 
good reason.

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