Back in 2004, when President Bush was re-elected, bitter minions of the Angry Left began slapping garish bumper stickers reading “1-20-09” on their hypocritically carbon-emitting automobiles. 

Those now-familiar stickers, of course, refer to the date on which a new President will take the oath of office.  And following Barack Obama’s election victory, January 20, 2009 marks the day on which the red-faced Bush-haters can finally exhale and resume breathing. 

To anyone who values the rule of law and our nation’s territorial integrity, however, January 20, 2009 carries a significant meaning for a very different reason. 

Namely, that is the last day on which President Bush can do the right thing by issuing long-overdue pardons or commutations to decorated United States Border Patrol Agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos.  With each passing day, the window for Bush to end the tragic injustice imposed upon them closes a little bit further. 

But we can still do something about that, and help two men who helped protect us. 

For those who somehow remain unfamiliar with the travesty surrounding Compean and Ramos, they are the two Border Patrol agents who sit in prison after confronting an illegal alien attempting to smuggle over 700 pounds of marijuana across the US-Mexico border. 

While on patrol, Agents Ramos and Compean spotted a suspicious van driven by Mexican citizen and drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila.  When Aldrete-Davila noticed the two Agents, he quickly abandoned his van, which was loaded with 743 pounds of marijuana, and fled back toward the Mexican border.  As Agents Compean and Ramos pursued Aldrete-Davila on foot, they saw him turn toward them with what appeared to be a firearm, and heard gunshots.  Naturally, Agents Compean and Ramos returned fire in self-defense.  The fleeing drug smuggler proceeded re-cross the border, jumped into a waiting van and disappeared.  Unbeknownst to Agents Compean and Ramos, they had hit Aldrete-Davila in the buttocks after firing in self-defense. 

What followed constitutes a bizarre mockery of justice.  United States Attorney and Bush loyalist Johnny Sutton decided not to prosecute Mr. Aldrete-Davila, but rather Agents Compean and Ramos.  Sutton somehow trusted the allegations of a Mexican national who repeatedly violated both our immigration and drug laws, instead of the sworn testimony of two decorated Border Patrol agents.  Moreover, Sutton granted Mr. Aldrete-Davila legal immunity for his crimes, as well as free medical care courtesy of American taxpayers.  Following a trial riddled with evidentiary and jury flaws, Agents Compean and Ramos were sentenced to a collective 23 years. 

Inexplicably, the Bush Administration refused immediate calls to issue pardons or commutations to Agents Compean or Ramos.  Instead, President Bush showed the same type of misguided trust toward Johnny Sutton that he showed toward former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director Michael Brown, to whom he infamously said, “you’re doing a great job, Brownie” in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. 

Even more inexplicably, however, President Bush has issued pardons and commutations for people far less-deserving than Agents Compean and Ramos, including convicted drug felons. 

For example, Bush recently pardoned Larry Lenius, who was convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine; Larry Lopez, who was convicted of conspiracy to import marijuana; Mark Weber, who was convicted of selling Quaalude tablets and marijuana while serving in the U.S. Air Force; and James Harris, who was convicted of cocaine offenses. 

President Bush also commuted the prison sentence of famous rapper and convicted drug trafficker John Forte, who had worked with the Fugees and Herbie Hancock.  According to Forte, he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and unknowingly agreed to transport a package that turned out to contain cocaine. 

Why has President Bush chosen to accept the claims of innocence by a famous rap artist convicted of drug trafficking, but not the sworn testimony of two decorated Border Patrol agents?  Why pardon drug felons, but not two Border Patrol agents who protected us against drug felons?  Only Bush himself can say. 

But what is certain is that American citizens still have time to contact the White House and insist that President Bush do the right thing by issuing a pardon or commutation to Agents Compean and Ramos.  They proudly protected this country against felon assault, and deserve no less from us.