Sae Joon Park, a Purple Heart veteran who self-deported last year, has received a pardon, a critical step forward in his pursuit to return to the U.S. where he has lived nearly all his life.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., erased Park's convictions of bail jumping and drug possession on Friday. He was among six individuals granted clemency because they "displayed positive changes in their lives and will dedicate themselves to bettering their communities," Hochul said in a statement.
"They earned their second chance through rehabilitation and can now establish their futures once again," she added.
In a statement, Park said he has been praying for the chance to come back to the U.S. every day.
"I know there is still work ahead, but today I have hope that I may finally be able to come home," he said. "I want to thank my legal team, everyone who advocated for me, and the thousands of people who have supported me and my family. I will never forget what you have done for me."
Park has received national attention over the past year. At a congressional hearing in December, Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-Rhode Island, highlighted Park's situation while questioning former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Park appeared at the hearing via Zoom.
"Will you commit to at least looking at Mr. Park's case to see if you can help him find a pathway back to this country that he sacrificed so much for?" Magaziner asked Noem at a House Homeland Security committee hearing.
"I will absolutely look at his case," Noem replied.
Park was forced to move to South Korea in response to a removal order triggered by his two convictions. It was his first time in his home country in nearly 50 years.
The Army veteran came to the U.S. when he was 7 and became a legal permanent resident. At age 19, Park joined the U.S. Army and was later, deployed to the 1989 invasion of Panama, known as Operation Just Cause to topple Manuel Noriega's regime. There, he was shot in the back by Panamanian soldiers.
Park was flown back home, honorably discharged and awarded a Purple Heart. But in the years that followed, he said he struggled with undiagnosed PTSD, which then led to a drug addiction and his run-ins with the law.
Park went on to serve three years in prison, where he also got sober. He spent the next decade rebuilding his life in Hawaii. In June 2025, immigration authorities warned Park that he would be detained and deported if he did not leave the U.S., according to Park's legal team. The Army veteran moved later that month — leaving behind his two adult children and his elderly mother.
" I have to accept the fact that this is probably the last time I'll see her," he told NPR last year.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The pardon does not automatically allow Park to return to the U.S., but it will allow his legal team to reopen his case and ask the board of immigration appeals to consider vacating Park's removal order, according to Danicole Ramos, who is representing Park and is an attorney at the University of Hawaii's refugee and immigration law clinic.
"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.
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