Trump pardons included El Paso Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting Mexican drug smuggler

EL PASO, Texas -- Two former U.S. Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting and wounding a Mexican drug smuggler near El Paso were among dozens of people pardoned by President Trump in recent days.

The two Border Patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, received 11- and 12-year prison sentences for their role in the 2005 shooting. Their sentences were later reduced through presidential commutation by George W. Bush.

The shooting happened February 17, 2005, on the U.S.-Mexico border southeast of El Paso. During their trial, Ramos and Compean said that the illegal immigrant, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, had brandished a gun while actively resisting arrest.

Aldrete-Davila said, however, that he was unarmed and trying to surrender when Compean attempted to beat him with a shotgun.

Aldrete-Davila was shot while fleeing toward the Rio Grande. Ramos and Compean were convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon, lying about the incident and violating Aldrete-Davila's Fourth Amendment right against illegal search and seizure.

After receiving immunity to testify in the case against the two agents, Aldrete-Davila was arrested in 2007 on charges of bringing more than 750 pounds of marijuana into the United States.

The case became a political flashpoint, with advocates of tighter border controls defending the agents and civil liberties groups saying that the agents had used illegal and excessive force against Aldrete-Davila.