Two former US Border Patrol agents, who were convicted in 2006 for shooting an unarmed Mexican drug smuggler, have received presidential pardon - the final act of clemency from the outgoing President Bush, who steered clear of any high-profile pardons!

The two commutations by Bush are a marked contrast to the flurry of 140 pardons by his predecessor Bill Clinton on his last day as president.

The 12-year prison sentence of Jose Alonso Compean, 32; and the 11-year sentence of Ignacio Ramos, 39, has been commuted. Under the commutation, their prison terms will end March 20.

The conviction of the two agents, both of El Paso, had drawn a protest from supporters, who argued that both of them had performed their jobs and, hence, the punishment meted out to them was too harsh.

For Bush, who has used his constitutional pardon power in a rather tight-fisted manner, the decision to commute the sentences of the two agents is apparently a rather safe yet high-impact action. It surprised not only the supporters of the agents, but also for lawyers who were lobbying hard at the White House and the Justice Department for grant of clemency to dozens of other people.

Bush offered no comments on the decision of commutations, which were announced by the Justice Department. However, according to a senior White House official, the president "thinks they were fairly tried and received a just verdict," but that the punishment of solitary confinement was "excessive."