N.Y. governor’s 9-11 worker pardon unlikely to spark a trend
NEW YORK The New York governor’s pardon of a World Trade Center disaster worker fighting deportation to Colombia after a drug conviction is the latest example of politicians trying to rescue individuals from their immigration problems, but the mixed and unpredictable results make it unlikely to become a common occurrence.
Carlos Cardona had his 1990 drug conviction wiped off the books by Gov. Andrew Cuomo this week, improving the Queens man’s chances of remaining in the U.S. while he receives health treatments for ailments linked to his work on the Sept. 11, 2001, recovery effort.
His case follows several other recent instances when Democratic governors have pardoned individuals facing deportation for state crimes that sometimes occurred years earlier. The pardons have come after President Donald Trump ordered increased deportations, resulting in a boost of over 35 per cent in his first 100 days in office when compared to the same period last year.
“It works some of the time,” said Jason A. Cade, a University of Georgia School of Law professor who has studied how the practice has evolved over the last century. “It is a way to avert what might be unfair deportations in certain cases.”
It did not work after Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe pardoned Liliana Cruz Mendez for a minor driving offence after she was detained by immigration agents when she arrived May 18 for a regular check-in. The Falls Church, Virginia, mother of two was sent back to her native El Salvador anyway.
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, hoping to stop a deportation, pardoned a Cuban immigrant, Rene Lima-Marin, last month for an armed robbery he committed 19 years ago.
Cade said changes by Congress in the 1990s pertaining to when pardons can excuse drug offences for immigration purposes created “a lot of weirdness” so that pardons sometimes are effective for more serious drug crimes but not for lesser offences.
Recently, a Massachusetts judge dropped the criminal case against a man caught smoking marijuana at a national seashore so he could still get his green card, said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, a research organization that argues that lower levels of immigration are better for the country.