(HAWAI‘I) Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told lawmakers on December 12, 2025, that she will review the case of Sae Joon Park, a Purple Heart recipient and U.S. Army combat veteran from Hawai‘i who was deported after he agreed to leave the United States 🇺🇸 for South Korea in June 2025.
The hearing and the promise to review
The promise came during a tense House committee hearing after Rep. Seth Magaziner (D–RI) challenged Noem’s testimony about President Trump’s immigration crackdown, which the department says is aimed at violent criminals.
Magaziner recounted Park’s history: Park was shot twice in Panama in 1989 while serving in the Army, later struggled with PTSD and minor drug offenses in the 1990s, and has been sober for 14 years. Magaziner pressed Noem on why Park was ordered out of the country despite no violent-crime record.
“He’s been clean and sober for 14 years. He is a combat veteran, a Purple Heart recipient. He has sacrificed more for this country than most people ever have. Earlier this year, you deported him to [South] Korea, a country he hasn’t lived in since he was seven years old,” Magaziner said.
Noem initially said she was not aware of any cases in which veterans or citizens had been removed under the administration’s stepped-up enforcement. When Magaziner cited Park and other files, she shifted and said, “I will absolutely look at his case.”
Park’s immigration history and removal
According to Magaziner’s account and information discussed at the hearing, Park lived in the United States 🇺🇸 for 48 years as a lawful permanent resident (a green card holder).
That status was later revoked after a drug conviction, leaving him subject to removal even though he had built his adult life in Hawai‘i. Park checked in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) every year, showing his sobriety and steady work, until a check-in after January 2025 ended with a removal order.
His lawyer, Danicole Ramos, negotiated what Magaziner described as a grace period that let Park arrange a voluntary departure rather than face forced removal. Park self-deported to South Korea in June 2025 — a step that can spare someone the trauma of being physically removed but still ends their legal life in the United States and can trigger long bars on returning. Ramos declined to comment when asked about Noem’s pledge to review the case.
Potential forms of relief Noem could consider
Magaziner told Noem she has tools to let Park return, including:
- Humanitarian parole
- Deferred action
Both are forms of case-by-case relief that can allow a person to enter or stay for urgent reasons. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services page on humanitarian parole explains the basics of this discretionary power and the limits on it, including that it does not give permanent status (USCIS humanitarian parole). Noem did not specify what relief, if any, she would consider — only that she would look.
Other veteran-connected cases raised
Magaziner used Park’s story to raise two other cases he said showed the human cost of broad enforcement:
- A veteran’s wife, Donna, facing deportation over writing two bad checks totaling $80 a decade earlier.
- A veteran’s father who Magaziner said was deported even after raising three U.S. Marines.
Neither case was discussed in detail beyond those facts, but Magaziner argued they undercut claims that the crackdown is focused narrowly on dangerous offenders.
Partisan exchange and broader debate
The exchange quickly turned partisan:
- Democrats accused Noem of lying after she said no veterans or citizens had been deported under President Trump’s policies. They pointed to government records they said show that over 70% of ICE arrests lacked criminal records.
- Republicans defended the department and argued tougher enforcement restores order at the border and inside the country.
- Democrats warned that the enforcement net is catching long-time residents whose mistakes are decades old.
Noem, who oversees DHS and its agencies including ICE, did not address the 70% figure during the exchange described by Magaziner, though her office has repeatedly said the department targets threats to public safety.
Legal context and veteran advocates’ concerns
Cases like Park’s sit at the hard edge of U.S. immigration law, where a lawful permanent resident can be deported for certain criminal convictions — including many drug offenses — even if the person served in the military and has close family ties.
Veteran advocates have long pushed for:
- Faster paths to citizenship for service members
- A stronger safety valve when trauma, addiction, or mental health problems follow them home
Analysis by VisaVerge.com noted the Park case draws attention because it mixes military service, old convictions, and the pressure many non-citizen veterans feel when they report to ICE year after year.
What’s at stake for Park
For Park, the difference between a review and actual relief could decide whether he ever lives again in the place he considers home. Magaziner reiterated that Park left for a country he had not lived in since age seven and that he had maintained sobriety for 14 years.
People in similar situations often rely on lawyers to seek discretionary help from DHS leadership, but those requests can:
- Take a long time
- Be uncertain in outcome
In the hearing room, Noem’s brief commitment offered little detail, yet it marked a rare moment where a top official publicly accepted a lawmaker’s request to reopen a deported veteran’s file.
Wider implications from the hearing
Outside the specifics of Park’s case, the hearing captured a wider fight over how the administration measures success:
- Magaziner and other Democrats argued that arrests of people without criminal records show the focus is broader than promised.
- Republicans said enforcement must be firm to deter unlawful stays.
- Some Democrats called for Noem’s resignation, saying her testimony conflicted with agency data.
- Republicans pushed back, saying the secretary is enforcing the law Congress wrote.
Whether Noem’s review leads to humanitarian parole, deferred action, or no change, Park remains in South Korea, waiting for word from the department that sent him away after nearly five decades living in Hawai‘i.
At a Dec. 12, 2025 hearing, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem pledged to review Purple Heart recipient Sae Joon Park’s deportation after he self-deported to South Korea in June 2025. Park lived in the U.S. for 48 years; his green card was revoked following a past drug conviction. Rep. Seth Magaziner urged consideration of humanitarian parole or deferred action. Noem’s review signals possible discretionary relief but does not guarantee Park’s return.
