The governor of New York State has pardoned an undocumented immigrant who worked on to help clean up ground zero following the September 11 terrorist attacks in order to help him fight deportation proceedings.
Andrew Cuomo’s pardon regards a 1990 conviction for attempting to sell a controlled substance. At the time, he was 21 years old.
That conviction had been of interest to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has been tasked by Donald Trump’s administration to deport as many undocumented immigrants as possible. Those instructions include deporting non-criminals, however, which is an expansion of criteria from the stated principles of the Barack Obama administration.
After the 1990 conviction, Carlos Cardona helped with recovery work after two planes flew into the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan in what was the deadliest terror attack on US soil.
He developed acute respiratory issues later on, as well as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Those conditions are common amongst 9/11 responders.
Mr Cardona is originally from Santiago de Cali, Colombia, and entered the United States in 1986 when he was about 16 years old.
The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation
11 show all The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation
1/11 Paul Manafort Mr Manafort is a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign manager. He resigned from that post over questions about his extensive lobbying overseas, including in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests. Getty
2/11 Mike Flynn Mr Flynn was named as Trump's national security adviser but was forced to resign from his post for inappropriate communication with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. He had misrepresented a conversation he had with Mr Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, telling him wrongly that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian. Getty Images
3/11 Sergey Kislyak Mr Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the US, is at the centre of the web said to connect President Donald Trump's campaign with Russia. Reuters
4/11 Roger Stone Mr Stone is a former Trump adviser who worked on the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Mr Stone claimed repeatedly in the final months of the campaign that he had backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that he knew the group was going to dump damaging documents to the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton - which did happen. Mr Stone also had contacts with the hacker Guccier 2.0 on Twitter, who claimed to have hacked the DNC and is linked to Russian intelligence services. Getty Images
5/11 Jeff Sessions The US attorney general was forced to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation after it was learned that he had lied about meeting with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images
6/11 Carter Page Mr Page is a former advisor to the Trump campaign and has a background working as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Mr Page met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Mr Page had invested in oil companies connected to Russia and had admitted that US Russia sanctions had hurt his bottom line. Reuters
7/11 Jeffrey "JD" Gorden Mr Gordon met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republian National Convention to discuss how the US and Russia could work together to combat Islamist extremism should then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election. The meeting came days before a massive leak of DNC emails that has been connected to Russia. Creative Commons
8/11 Jared Kushner Mr Kushner is President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser to the White House. He met with a Russian banker appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December. Mr Kushner has said he did so in his role as an adviser to Mr Trump while the bank says he did so as a private developer. Mr Kushner has also volunteered to testify in the Senate about his role helping to arrange meetings between Trump advisers and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images
9/11 James Comey Mr Comey was fired from his post as head of the FBI by President Donald Trump. The timing of Mr Comey's firing raised questions around whether or not the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign may have played a role in the decision. Getty Images
10/11 Preet Bharara Mr Bahara refused, alongside 46 other US district attorney's across the country, to resign once President Donald Trump took office after previous assurances from Mr Trump that he would keep his job. Mr Bahara had been heading up several investigations including one into one of President Donald Trump's favorite cable television channels Fox News. Several investigations would lead back to that district, too, including those into Mr Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and Mr Trump's assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped on orders from his predecessor. Getty Images
11/11 Sally Yates Ms Yates, a former Deputy Attorney General, was running the Justice Department while President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general awaited confirmation. Ms Yates was later fired by Mr Trump from her temporary post over her refusal to implement Mr Trump's first travel ban. She had also warned the White House about potential ties former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Russia after discovering those ties during the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia. Getty Images
He was detained by American immigration services in February, and has been held there since.
Mr Trump began his 2016 campaign with the promise to deport undocumented immigrants who he labeled as rapists and criminals. While controversial, that promise to be tough on America’s borders seemed to resonate with bas Republican voters concerned about national security and American job security that is said to be threatened by foreign nationals coming into the country and willing to work for cheaper wages.
Legal challenges to Trump administration efforts to make good on its promise to focus on deporting undocumented immigrants have resulted in some lawyers indicating that they do not have the legal authority to block deportations of undocumented immigrants, even if they are non violent and without a criminal record.
particle409 on June 22nd, 2017 at 13:36 UTC »
I remember when Republicans fought the 9/11 first responders medical bill, because they were worried it might pay for an illegal immigrant's health care.
BobaFetaCheese on June 22nd, 2017 at 05:09 UTC »
Who wrote that, a computer program? I don't see that an author is credited. It's terribly written and edited.
Krillinitsoftly on June 22nd, 2017 at 01:05 UTC »
It may not matter.
The violation may have occurred under a state law context but he would still be guilty of violating a federal drug law. That likely would not prevent him from facing a deportation since the deportations are related to federal law. It has nothing to do with state laws.
This pardon will likely be a symbolic gesture.