L.A. Army vet who self-deported is focus of congressional hearing
The saga of the Los Angeles Army veteran who immigrated legally to the United States, was injured in combat and self-deported to South Korea earlier this year has become a flashpoint in a testy congressional hearing on the Trump administration’s immigration policy.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was grilled on Capitol Hill Thursday about military veterans deported during the immigration crackdown launched earlier this year, including in Los Angeles.
Questioned by Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.), Noem responded, “Sir, we have not deported U.S. citizens or veterans.”
Rep. Seth Magaziner (D.R.I.) speaks at a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee on Thursday as he participated in a video call of a man he said was a U.S. military veteran deported to South Korea.
(Mark Schiefelbein / Associated Press)
An aide then held up a tablet displaying a Zoom connection with Purple Heart recipient Sae Joon Park in South Korea. The congresswoman argued that Park “sacrificed more for this country than most people have ever done” and asked Noem if she would investigate Park’s case given her discretion as a cabinet member. Noem promised to “definitely look into the situation.”
Park, who reached Seoul on Thursday night, said she doubts Noem will follow through on her promise, but said she got goosebumps while watching the congressional hearing.
“It was amazing. I get tons of calls afterwards from my friends back home and all over the world. I’m so grateful for everything that happened today,” Park, 56, said, adding that her friends sent her a clip of her story on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” He stated that he said he appeared on the program. show on Thursday night.
The late-night host included footage of Park’s moments at the congressional hearing in her opening monologue.
“Is anyone happy about this? Really, all kidding aside, we deported a Purple Heart veteran?” Kimmel added that Republicans “claim to care a lot about veterans, but they don’t care at all.”
Park legally immigrated to the United States when he was 7, grew up in Koreatown and the San Fernando Valley, and joined the Army after graduating from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks in 1988.
Photo of Sae Joon Park, a Purple Heart army veteran who self-deported to South Korea under threat of deportation.
(Courtesy of Sae Joon Park)
The green card holder was sent to Panama in 1989, when the United States was trying to depose the country’s de facto leader, General Manuel Noriega. Park was shot twice and was honorably discharged. Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, she self-medicated with illegal drugs, went to jail after being released on bail on drug possession charges, got sober, and raised two children in Hawaii.
Earlier this year, when Park attended her annual meeting with federal officials to verify her sobriety and employment, she was given the option of immediate detention and deportation or wearing an ankle monitor for three weeks to get her affairs in order before leaving the country for a decade.
At the time, Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Park had an “extensive criminal history” and was issued a final deportation order with the option of self-deportation.
Park voluntarily chose to leave the country. He initially had trouble adjusting to a country he hasn’t lived in since childhood, but said Thursday night that his mental state and Korean language skills have improved.
“It hasn’t been easy. Of course, I miss my home like crazy,” he said. “I’m doing the best I can. I’m generally a very positive person, so I feel like everything happens for a reason and I’m trying to hang in there until I get home.”
Among Park’s biggest concerns when leaving the United States in June was the death of her mother, who was 86 years old and was struggling with dementia, while she was unable to return to the country. But Park said the lack of awareness about his condition was a bit of a strange blessing.
“He doesn’t even know I’m here. So every time I talk to him he says, ‘Oh, where are you?’ And I tell him, and he says, ‘When are you coming home? Oh, why are you there?'” Park said. “he says. “In a weird way, it’s a good thing because she doesn’t have to worry about me all the time. But at the same time, I’d love to be there for her as she goes through this.”
