US Army veteran pardoned for crimes that led to his self-deportation to South Korea | CNN

A Korean-born US Army veteran who self-deported last year has been pardoned for the crimes that led to him leaving, raising hopes that he can return to the United States. Sae Joon Park, 57, is among a number of noncitizen US military veterans who self-deported or were expelled from the country they fought for under President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown. He self-deported to the country he left as a child after immigration officials unexpectedly threatened to handcuff and arrest him at a scheduled immigration check-in due to a prior criminal conviction. Park’s case drew national attention in December when lawmakers pressed then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a testy congressional hearing about veterans swept up in the crackdown. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday erased two convictions Park had in the state, bail jumping in the second degree in 2009 and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree in 2007. He earned a Purple Heart fighting for the US. Swept up in Trump’s immigration crackdown, he now fights to come home Park and five other individuals Hochul pardoned Friday “have displayed positive changes in their live