New York Governor Pardons Purple Heart Veteran, Opening Path to Return to U.S.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a pardon that removes Sae Joon Park’s bail-jumping and drug-possession convictions, a pivotal move toward overturning the removal order that compelled his self-deportation to South Korea last year. Park, a Purple Heart veteran injured during the 1989 invasion of Panama, has lived in the United States since age seven and became a legal permanent resident before enlisting in the Army at 19.

After undiagnosed PTSD led to drug addiction and subsequent legal trouble, he faced the two convictions that triggered his forced departure, leaving behind his two adult children and elderly mother. Hochul granted clemency to six people she said had demonstrated rehabilitation and a commitment to better their communities. While the pardon does not automatically restore his ability to re-enter the country, it enables his lawyer, Danicole Ramos of the University of Hawaii’s refugee and immigration law clinic, to petition the Board of Immigration Appeals to vacate the removal order. Park’s plight was highlighted in a December congressional hearing where Rep. Seth Magaziner asked former Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem to examine his case, and ICE has not responded to inquiries.