Defunding the border agents' sentences?

Washington Times:

A Republican congressman yesterday said he will offer an amendment to an annual spending bill to prevent the Bush administration from using funds to enforce the prison sentences of two U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado said the amendment would force the release of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, who were sentenced to 11- and 12-year prison terms for shooting a fleeing drug-smuggling suspect in the buttocks.

"Americans have been waiting months for the president to right this wrong and I am not going to wait any longer," said Mr. Tancredo, a candidate for president in 2008. "It's time that the Congress took matters into its own hands.

"This kangaroo court in Texas has made a decision, but Congress is under no obligation to provide the administration with the funds they need to enforce it," he said.

Also yesterday, Rep. John Culberson, Texas Republican, and 20 House colleagues sent a letter to President Bush asking that he immediately commute the sentences of the agents, saying they were "unjustly prosecuted for doing their job."

"It is unacceptable that a federal prosecutor would take the word of a known drug smuggler over the testimony of two officers protecting our country," Mr. Culberson said. "This case has created a chilling effect along the border, and law-enforcement personnel tell me they are now hesitant to draw their weapons."

The others who signed the letter are Texas Reps. Michael C. Burgess, John Carter, Michael K. Conaway, Louie Gohmert, Kay Granger, Ralph M. Hall, Kenny Marchant, Michael McCaul, Pete Sessions and Ted Poe; California Reps. Brian P. Bilbray, Wally Herger, Dana Rohrabacher and Ed Royce; and Reps. Mary Fallin of Oklahoma, Virgil H. Goode Jr. of Virginia, Walter B. Jones of North Carolina, Mike Rogers of Michigan, Cliff Stearns of Florida and Joe Wilson of South Carolina.

...

The President would probably veto such a bill. I don't think they are going to be able to convince him that his friend US Attorney Johnny Sutton screwed these guys. While I continue to believe that Sutton used bad judgment in his prosecution, the border agents best hope for a reduced sentence would be to commute that portion of the sentence attributable to the statute that was designed to enhance the crimes of drug dealers who use weapons in the commission of a crime and was never intended to enhance charges against law enforcement officers. If he did that the border agents could probably be released for time served.