The governor of New York State pardoned an undocumented immigrant who worked to clean up Ground Zero following the September 11 terrorist attacks, in a bid to fight deportation proceedings.
The pardon issued by Andrew Cuomo relates to Carlos Cardona's 1990 conviction for attempting to sell a controlled substance when he was 21 years-old.
The conviction was subjected to the scrutiny of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 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.
Following his initial conviction, Cardona helped with recovery work after two planes flew into the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan.
Cardona is originally from Santiago de Cali, Colombia, and entered the United States in 1986 when he was about 16 years old.
A total of 41,318 people were arrested on civil immigration charges in the period between the beginning of President Donald Trump’s presidency in January and April 2017, which is a 37.6% increase compared to the same period in 2016.
