I was very pleased to read news that the border agents, Compean and Ramos, had their sentences commuted. In fact, I asked our own Mark Whittington some time ago whom he thought President Bush would end up pardoning and these two guys made the top of his list. Compean and Ramos believed Davila was armed — a likely supposition given the all-out drug war being fought in much of Mexico and spilling over into the border states of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. But even that campaign has more to do with frustration surrounding Bush’s refusal to secure our southern border and adequately enforce immigration laws than the legal merits of the case. Ramos-Compean pardons won’t make up for Bush’s immigration inaction for most of the past eight years.

Compean, along with former agent Ignacio Ramos, was convicted in 2006 of shooting admitted and now convicted Mexican drug smuggler Osvaldo Adlrete Davila and trying to cover up the incident. The two men argued during their trials that they shot Aldrete, whom they believed was armed, in self defense. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were each sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for wounding a drug smuggler. During the pursuit, Ramos, after finding a bloodied Compean lying on the ground from a struggle with Aldrete-Davila, shot at the smuggler, believing him to be armed. Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean will not be at that table with family. Ignacio Ramos will be here behind me – in solitary confinement.

These two men were not pardoned. Their sentences were commuted. A senior administration official explained that this is a commutation, NOT a pardon. President Bush still believes that the border agents received fair trials and that the verdicts were just, but he also believed their sentences were excessive and that they had already suffered the loss of their jobs, freedom and reputations. During his presidency, Bush has granted a total of 189 pardons and 11 commutations. That’s fewer than half as many as Presidents Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan issued during their two-term tenures.

There are no pardons for the unlawful programs. Bush may be counting on Obama and the Democrats in continuing to block any serious investigation. This is not a full pardon, which would have erased the conviction from their records entirely, but a commutation, which ends their prison sentence and releases them to return to their families. Both will carry the stigma of a conviction, which will prevent them from ever becoming police officers again (Detroit and Washington, DC aside). Sometimes, “clemency” is described as “the pardon power,” which is acceptable, so long as it is understood that, formally speaking, a pardon is one of several forms of clemency. Clemency powers can be found in all three branches of the federal government (executive, legislative and judicial).

A pardon of these men would have been an affront to the rule of law in the United States. Sure, the immigration system in the United Sates is broken; however, those entrusted to enforce the law are not above it. It is great news for the good guys, although this pardon should have come long ago. This travesty of justice has caused Ramos and Compean to spend a couple years in prison for doing their jobs. This was apparently to send a message that strong border security did not align with amnesty for illegal aliens. While I believe that the two agents should have gotten a full pardon, this is the best that we could have hoped for from the Bush administration. It threads the needle.

Interestingly, in view of the extensive diversity of national origins, there was a surprising 17.3 percent that reported they were Hispanic or Latino but did not indicate a national origin. Analyses have yet to be done on this group, but it may be that this fast-growing group represents either those who have parents from more than one country, or, those who consider themselves “Hispanic-Latino,” but do not identify with a particular country. The festival was observed and reported on by the -Latino Immigrants-. The project faculty participated in the festival and conducted extensive interviews and conversations with a broad cross-section of residents and participants visiting from the United States.

The increasing proportion of Latinos and blacks occurred as absolute numbers of meat-processing workers were increasing, which suggests that the two groups may have been competing for the same low-skilled jobs. In addition, because CPS data historically undercount foreign-born persons who are reluctant to answer government surveys, the Latino component of the workforce shown in Figure 1 is most likely a conservative estimate. Latino Workers in the Contemporary South describes issues these immigrants and refugees face, particularly regarding work, and also offers accounts of the impact of Latinos on their employers and communities at large. Though its discussions span a variety of regions, the book focuses, in particular, on areas of Georgia and Florida where booming Hispanic populations have had considerable influence in recent years.

Growth in Latino employment in the lowest wage class (57 percent) was well below average. Arrests for violent crimes were highest in high growth Latino counties, but declined faster during the decade than arrest rates in traditional Latino counties or in counties that experienced no growth in Latino population. There were tremendous increases in drug arrests across the board but the high Latino immigration counties showed the lowest rates of increase.

The United States receives more legal immigrants than any other country in the world; additionally, 16 percent of the American population traditionally migrates within the nation. Because of all of the movement within the United States, as well as the explosive growth of the Latino population, Latino settlement in the United States has recently expanded beyond traditionally highly concentrated states and districts, and Latino-specific preferences have traveled with them. Specifically, it will be concerned with “race” as a central category in the medical construction and management of individuals and populations. Case studies might focus on colonial medicine, race and public health, sexuality and reproduction, global health disparities, and genetics and genomics. Although Derry (with 1.9 percent of its population identifying itself as Hispanic or Latino) has not seen large numbers of minority residents, Needham said the personnel training was worthwhile.