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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) criticized New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for pardoning an illegal migrant to stop his deportation.
“@GovKathyHochul, your shameful secret is out. Rather than putting New Yorkers first, you’re protecting a criminal illegal alien KILLER with a rap sheet including convictions for manslaughter and criminal possession of a firearm,” DHS stated.
“If you are a convicted criminal alien, you should not have the privilege to be in this country. President Trump and @Sec_Noem will continue fighting to protect every American citizen and remove the worst of the worst from our nation,” it added.
.@GovKathyHochul, your shameful secret is out.
Rather than putting New Yorkers first, you’re protecting a criminal illegal alien KILLER with a rap sheet including convictions for manslaughter and criminal possession of a firearm.
If you are a convicted criminal alien, you… pic.twitter.com/anXAXECvjg
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 16, 2025
According to Gothamist, Hochul pardoned a 52-year-old “Laotian refugee” who has lived in the United States most of his life.
The Democrat governor reportedly issued clemency for a manslaughter conviction to help him avoid deportation by the Trump administration.
Kathy Hochul pardons over a dozen illegal immigrants with criminal records, including man convicted of manslaughter
Among those pardoned was Somchith Vatthanavong, 52, who was convicted of manslaughter in 1990. pic.twitter.com/q4MVQtr55G
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) August 17, 2025
More from Gothamist:
Hochul pardoned Somchith “Sammy” Vatthanavong last month, which meant he was not also on a plane that sent 100 other refugees back to Laos and Vietnam this week, according to Mekong NYC, an organization advocating for the local Southeast Asian community. The group, which had advocated for the pardon, announced it earlier this week but it was first announced by Hochul’s administration on a list of recent commutations on Friday.
The organization said that Vatthanavong is one of more than 15,000 Southeast Asian people in the United States who are being targeted by the White House because of previous convictions.
Vatthanavong previously served 14 years in prison over manslaughter charges. The New York Times reports they relate to a fight at a Brooklyn pool hall that escalated on Christmas Eve in 1988, when Vatthanavong was 16 years old. Vatthanavong had said he shot a man, Miguel Melero, after being threatened with a knife, and hasn’t held a gun since, according to the report.
The pardon from Hochul comes after a yearslong campaign from Vatthanavong’s family and other advocacy groups to allow him to continue to live in the United States, after arriving at the age of 7. Laos has not traditionally cooperated with deportations of its citizens from the U.S., but the Trump administration has stepped up pressure on the country and deported several of its citizens to third countries after winning approval to do so from the Supreme Court earlier this summer.
“They’ve paid their debt, and I’ll be d***ed if I let them be deported to a country where they don’t know a soul,” Hochul said, according to the New York Post.
“And to those who would demonize them to score political points, I ask: Where is your compassion?” she added.
In total, Hochul granted clemency to 13 people.
NEW YORK Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul has pardoned 13 illegal aliens to shield them from ICE deportation, including Somchith “Sammy” Vatthanavong, who murdered a man in a 1988 Brooklyn pool hall and was convicted in 1990.
All of them will rape, rob and murder again. pic.twitter.com/wKx0fIUWk5
— Dapper Detective (@Dapper_Det) August 17, 2025
The New York Post provided further info:
A convict who is pardoned is freed from prison even if he has time left to serve. In these New York cases, since Vatthanayong and the other recipients were already released, it means they avoid other consequences for their crimes, such as being flagged for deportation. The pardon does not seal or expunge their records.
Hochul’s pardon rhetoric is a stark pivot from her repeated pledges to work with ICE and other federal authorities to deport criminal migrants.
“There is no sanctuary in New York for people who commit crimes. New York is committed to cracking down on gang members and violent criminals, and State officials cooperate with ICE and CBP in many circumstance,” Hochul’s office wrote in a memo before her testimony to the House Oversight Committee defending New York’s sanctuary policy earlier this year.
Hochul said the migrants she pardoned include several lawful permanent US residents from Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and South Africa. It is not clear who besides Vatthanayong may have entered the US illegally.
The governor only revealed the pardons after the Times story ran Friday.