Border Patrol agents lose last appeal over shot smuggler

More and more incidents are involving crimes by illegal aliens and border intrusions. The immigration bill was a farce. Our southern border is not just porous, it is open. We cannot enter Mexico without a passport but residents from Mexico don't need any. This is a vulnerability that be exploited by terrorism. When the next incident occurs responsibility will fall not just on President Bush administration but the Senate and House leaders that failed to pass legislation that would have integrated immigration, homeland defense and national defense. Something needs to be done NOW. We are at risk to terrorism and at greater risk to energy independence. The Iran, Venezuela, Russia trajectories will soon connect with drug dealers and coyotes and no amount of blame or finger pointing will help the dead.

Don't let them fade from your memory. Renew your pressure on the White House to have Bush do the right thing.

"plainly required by well-established Border Patrol policies"??? Surely we don't make criminal prosecutions for failure to follow policy. If President Bush does not pardon these guys after Clinton pardoned the FALN terrorists to help his wife win her senate seat then we really do have our priorities mixed up. In that case I sure hope President McCain pardons them.

I met Monica Ramos and dad Joe Loya at the Santa Clarita, CA rally to support our Border Patrol agents, June 28, 2008. Monica, God bless and give you and Nacho strength to endure this injustice and betrayal by the judicial system. President Bush SHOULD do the right thing before leaving office. He must pardon them or commute their sentences. By not pardoning or commuting these sentences of our US Border Patrol Officers, this truly is a tragic capitulation to the Mexican government, and pandering for the Latino vote. (can't they see how the drug cartels are laughing at us?) Linda Lucy S in Santa Clarita, CA

You have a person not legally in this country. You have activity related to why we have a "war on drugs". But when a criminal is fleeing our "troops'" order to halt, they can do nothing but wait and see if he fires first so they can use their weapons, if they are still alive. I think it is ridiculous and the system is obviously influenced by the lucrative drug trade. I don't understand why law enforcement officers must risk their lives when they have identified themselves as such and the criminal flees. They should be given the right to use whatever force necessary to bring the situation under control. Aldrete-Davila would not have been shot in the ___ if he were not running away. Support our troops fighting the war on drugs and crime.

Three cheers for Duncan Hunter. These agents were doing there job, protecting our country from a drug smuggler. Evidently the Fifth Circuit US Court of Appeals is more interested in protecting the civil rights of a foreign national than standing up for those who put their lives on the line to protect those very civil rights.