U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) penned a letter to President Donald Trump this week asking him to grant a pardon to former U.S. Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. The two agents were prosecuted and convicted under the administration of then-President George W. Bush after shooting a fleeing drug-smuggling illegal alien.

Ramos and Compean were prosecuted by then-U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Johnny Sutton in 2006. They were convicted and sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison. President Bush eventually responded to the grass-roots groundswell of support for the agents and commuted their sentence on his final day in office. The men were eventually released from prison and have since filed an application for a presidential pardon.

In the letter to President Trump (attached below), Rep. Hunter wrote, “Mr. President, Agents Compean’s and Ramos’ sentences were commuted in 2009 by then-President Bush, but I believe that they deserve every consideration for a pardon due to the circumstances of the incident and I respectfully request that you instruct the Office of the Pardon Attorney to provide their cases full and fast attention.”

Hunter laid out the details surrounding the incident where Ramos and Compean shot Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, an illegal alien who was later sentenced to nine years in prison for smuggling drugs. The congressman wrote:

The charges for which these federal officers were ultimately convicted related to an incident where multiple Border Patrol agents were in pursuit of a van that had entered the US illegally in an area very well known for illicit drug smuggling activity. The driver of the van, later identified as an illegal alien named Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, continued to evade the agents and drove at a dangerous high rate of speed to a levee where he could cross back into Mexico. Agent Compean was the first to reach the van where he began pursuing Aldrete-Davila on foot. At some point a hand-to-hand struggle ensued and Aldrete-Davila managed to bring Agent Compean to the ground. As Agent Ramos approached the area, he heard shots fired but his view of the altercation was initially obscured by the landscape. Aldrete-Davila broke free and both agents fired at him because he turned back towards them before he began to run towards the border. It was later discovered that when Ramos discharged his weapon, he hit Aldrete-Davila in the buttocks. At the time of the shooting, however, it was not apparent that Aldrete- Davila had been injured as he was able to escape and run across the international border to a waiting vehicle. After the incident it was discovered that the van contained more than 740 pounds of marijuana and, despite this, Aldrete-Davila received immunity from the smuggling charges in exchange for providing testimony against Agents Ramos and Compean. Aldrete-Davila was later arrested at the US border for trying to again smuggle a large quantity of drugs

into the US and received a nine year prison sentence.

“We’re saying a lot of prayers,” Ramos told Breitbart Texas on Friday.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, GAB, and Facebook.

Duncan Hunter letter to President Trump to Pardon Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean