Sae Joon Park, a 55-year-old man who has lived in the United States since the age of seven, was forced to return to South Korea earlier this month under immigration orders issued as part of President Donald Trump’s renewed crackdown on non-citizens with criminal records.
Park, a decorated Army veteran who earned a Purple Heart after being shot twice during the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989, was ordered by immigration authorities to leave the country based on drug and bail-related charges dating back more than 15 years. The charges, he says, were connected to his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder following his military service.
Park applied for a green card as a child and was granted legal permanent residency. At 19, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and was later honorably discharged following injuries sustained in combat. After returning home to Los Angeles, he began using drugs to cope with the effects of PTSD.
“I was suffering from PTSD severely,” Park told NPR. “From sleeping nightmares to, like, having just fearful thoughts all the time. Couldn’t watch horror movies, couldn’t hear loud noises.”
He was arrested while meeting with a dealer, and a judge ordered him to get clean before his next court appearance, something Park admitted he “knew he couldn’t do.” In addition to the possession charge, he was later convicted in 2009 of bail jumping and sentenced to three years in prison.
Following his release, Park was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. His green card was revoked, but he was allowed to remain in the U.S. under deferred action, with conditions that included checking in annually with ICE, staying drug-free and avoiding further legal trouble.
Park moved to Hawaii to be closer to his family. There, he raised two children and took care of his aging parents and aunts. For years, he complied with the terms of his deferred action — until earlier this month, when it was abruptly terminated. He was fitted with an ankle monitor and given three weeks to leave the country or face detention and forced removal.
“I get it. I broke the law and everything,” Park told Hawaii News Now. “But I think this is a little severe — what they’re doing to me — after I paid my dues, after I did my time for the offense that I did. I thought I was doing my part to do whatever I have to do to be a good citizen and do everything right to stay in this country.”
Trump’s immigration policies have led to the detention of roughly 51,000 undocumented immigrants, the separation of thousands of families, and the arrests of student protesters on campuses nationwide. Though Park’s offenses were non-violent and dated, his case was not exempt from the administration’s broadened criteria for deportation.
Speaking to Honolulu’s KITV, Park said: “I was just very lucky to deport myself, remove myself, because they were ready to lock me up. And that is so unfair, and so many people are getting locked up.”
Park is now beginning a new life in South Korea, a country he hasn’t seen since childhood. Before his departure, he was able to spend his final three weeks in the U.S. with family, including his elderly mother, whom he does not expect to see again.
