{"id":442905,"date":"2025-12-12T18:53:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T18:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/442905\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T18:53:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T18:53:26","slug":"l-a-army-vet-who-self-deported-is-focus-of-congressional-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/442905\/","title":{"rendered":"L.A. Army vet who self-deported is focus of congressional hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The saga of a Los Angeles Army veteran who legally immigrated to the United States, was wounded in combat and self-deported to South Korea earlier this year, became a flashpoint during a testy congressional hearing about the Trump administration\u2019s immigration policy.<\/p>\n

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was grilled Thursday on Capitol Hill about military veterans deported during the immigration crackdown launched earlier this year,<\/a> including in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\u201cSir, we have not deported U.S. citizens or military veterans,\u201d Noem responded when questioned by Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.).<\/p>\n

\"Seth <\/p>\n

Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.) speaks while joined on a video call by a man who he said was a U.S. military veteran who self-deported to South Korea, during a hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security on Thursday. <\/p>\n

(Mark Schiefelbein \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

An aide then held up a tablet showing a Zoom connection with Purple Heart recipient Sae Joon Park<\/a> in South Korea. The congressman argued that Park had \u201csacrificed more for this country than most people ever have\u201d and asked Noem if she would investigate Park\u2019s case given her discretion as a cabinet member. Noem pledged to \u201cabsolutely look at his case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Park, reached in Seoul on Thursday night, said he was skeptical that Noem would follow through on her promise, but said that he had \u201cgoosebumps\u201d watching the congressional hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was amazing. And then I\u2019m getting tons of phone calls from all my friends back home and everywhere else. I\u2019m so very grateful for everything that happened today,\u201d Park, 56, said, noting that friends told him that a clip of his story appeared on ABC\u2019s \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d show Thursday night.<\/p>\n

The late-night host featured footage of Park\u2019s moment in the congressional hearing in his opening monologue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs anyone OK with this? Seriously, all kidding aside, we deported a veteran with a Purple Heart?\u201d Kimmel said, adding that Republicans \u201cclaim to care so much about veterans, but they don\u2019t at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Photo <\/p>\n

Photo of Sae Joon Park, an Army veteran with a Purple Heart, who self-deported to South Korea under threat of deportation.<\/p>\n

(Courtesy of Sae Joon Park)<\/p>\n

The green card holder was deployed to Panama in 1989 as the U.S. tried to depose the nation\u2019s de facto leader, Gen. Manuel Noriega. Park was shot twice and honorably discharged. Suffering PTSD, he self-medicated with illicit drugs, went to prison after jumping bail on drug possession charges, became sober and raised two children in Hawaii.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, when Park checked in for his annual meeting with federal officials to verify his sobriety and employment, he was given the option of being immediately detained and deported, or wearing an ankle monitor for three weeks as he got his affairs in order before leaving the country for a decade<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the time, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Park had an \u201cextensive criminal history\u201d and had been given a final removal order, with the option to self-deport.<\/p>\n

Park chose to leave the country voluntarily. He initially struggled to acclimate in a nation he hasn\u2019t lived in since he was a child, but said Thursday night that his mental state \u2014 and his Korean language skills \u2014 have improved.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hasn\u2019t been easy. Of course, I miss home like crazy,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m doing the best I can. I\u2019m usually a very positive person, so I feel like everything happens for a reason, and I\u2019m just trying to hang in there until hopefully I make it back home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among Park\u2019s top concerns when he left the United States in June was that his mother, who is 86 and struggling with dementia, would pass away while he couldn\u2019t return to the county. But her lack of awareness about his situation has been somewhat of a strange blessing, Park said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe really doesn\u2019t know I\u2019m even here. So every time I talk to her, she\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, where are you,\u2019 and I tell her, and she\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, when are you coming home? Oh, why are you there?\u2019\u201d Park said. \u201cIn a weird way, it\u2019s kind of good because she doesn\u2019t have to worry about me all the time. But at the same time, I would love to be next to her while she\u2019s going through this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The saga of a Los Angeles Army veteran who legally immigrated to the United States, was wounded in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":442906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,6517,4471,204157,9958,27954,2399,2961,224,2444,5337,177441,6141,15243,2450,6620,41491,67,1628],"class_list":{"0":"post-442905","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-case","11":"tag-child","12":"tag-congressional-hearing","13":"tag-country","14":"tag-footage","15":"tag-kristi-noem","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-los-angeles","18":"tag-los-angeles-times","19":"tag-losangeles","20":"tag-military-veteran","21":"tag-park","22":"tag-south-korea","23":"tag-thursday","24":"tag-time","25":"tag-u-s-citizen","26":"tag-united-states","27":"tag-year"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115708114409536800","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}