Former long-time Hawaiʻi resident and Purple Heart veteran Sae Joon Park was granted clemency on Friday by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for two state convictions that caused him to lose the U.S. permanent residency status and be forced to self-deport.
Although he returned to Hawaiʻi after serving prison time and lived an exemplary life there for 14 years, those convictions led him to be forced by the Trump administration to self-deport from Honolulu to his native South Korea on June 23, 2025.
The pardon represents only a first step toward his possible return to the United States…