Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday pardoned seven more people who are facing deportation for previous “minor criminal convictions.”
It marks the third time Cuomo has used his power to grant clemency to immigrants facing ouster from the US — including last December, when he pardoned 18 individuals.
The move is a clear shot at President Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy.
“While President Trump engages in policies that rip children out of the arms of their mothers and tries to ramp up the deportation of New Yorkers to advance his political agenda of hate and division, we will protect our immigrant communities,” Cuomo said in a statement.
Many of the convictions were for drug possession or sale.
Those pardoned include 53-year-old Dominican national Ludames De La Cruz, who has stayed out of trouble since a drug conviction 17 years ago and is now struggling with cancer, according to the governor’s office.
“He is now battling cancer and if deported to the Dominican Republic he would have no support there as his siblings and nieces and nephews, extended family all live in New York City, where they visit and offer support during his illness,” Cuomo’s office said in a statement.
Also pardoned was Dominican national Carlos Suarez, 41, who learned that he was ineligible for citizenship as he was heading to a September 2017 swearing-in ceremony because of a 2009 petit larceny conviction. He has also stayed out of trouble since, according to Cuomo.
The pardons “will make immigration-related relief possible, if not automatic,” his office said.
Last summer, Cuomo pardoned Carlos Cardona, a former Ground Zero rescue worker facing deportation who was convicted of a nonviolent drug crime in 1990.