9/11 worker pardon unlikely to spark trend

Associated Press

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 more than 35 percent 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 offense after she was detained by immigration agents when she arrived May 18 for a regular check-in. The Falls Church, Va., 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 offenses for immigration purposes created “a lot of weirdness” so that pardons sometimes are effective for more serious drug crimes but not for lesser offenses.

In addition to pardons by governors, some prosecutors are thinking twice before filing charges that might result in deportation, raising the risk that a “parallel system of justice emerges where it is different for noncitizens.”