The Sae Joon Park pardon, granted Friday by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, marks a significant step for the Purple Heart recipient who left the United States last year under a removal order and is seeking to come back to the country where he has lived nearly his entire life.
Hochul, a Democrat, vacated Park’s state convictions for bail jumping and drug possession. She included him among six people awarded clemency who, she said in a statement, have shown positive change and a commitment to their communities. “They earned their second chance through rehabilitation and can now establish their futures once again,” Hochul said.
The Sae Joon Park pardon and path to return
Park said in a statement that he has prayed daily for a chance to return. “I know there is still work ahead, but today I have hope that I may finally be able to come home,” he said, thanking his legal team, advocates, and supporters.
The veteran’s case drew attention on Capitol Hill in December when Rep. Seth Magaziner, a Rhode Island Democrat, pressed former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing to review Park’s situation. Homeland Security officials did not publicly discuss the case at the time, but Noem said she would look into it.
Park relocated to South Korea after immigration authorities moved to enforce his removal based on the two convictions. It was his first time back in his birth country in nearly five decades.
Park arrived in the U.S. at age 7 and became a lawful permanent resident. He enlisted in the U.S. Army at 19 and deployed during the 1989 invasion of Panama, known as Operation Just Cause, where he was shot in the back by Panamanian forces. He was honorably discharged and awarded a Purple Heart.
Service, struggle, and deportation
In the years after his service, Park has said he struggled with undiagnosed PTSD that contributed to drug addiction and subsequent arrests. He served three years in prison, achieved sobriety, and then spent about a decade rebuilding his life in Hawaii.
In June 2025, immigration authorities told him he would be detained and deported if he did not depart voluntarily, his legal team said. He left later that month, leaving behind two adult children and his elderly mother, amid broader concerns over ICE arrests and enforcement practices.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
What the pardon changes
The Sae Joon Park pardon does not by itself permit his return. However, it enables his attorneys to move to reopen his immigration case and ask the Board of Immigration Appeals to set aside the removal order, said Danicole Ramos, an attorney with the University of Hawaii’s Refugee and Immigration Law Clinic who represents Park.
“This pardon represents a tremendous step forward and gives Mr. Park and his family renewed hope that, after more than a year of separation, he may one day be able to return to the country he has called home since childhood and for which he put his life on the line,” Ramos said.