18 hours ago
President Trump took aim at California Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday
for pardoning five ex-convicts facing deportation, asking if residents
of the Golden State “really want” such policies for criminal immigrants.
The president referred to Brown as “Moonbeam,” a
nickname he was given in the late 1970s during his first time as
governor for proposing a California space academy and later adopting a
plan to launch and orbit a satellite for emergency communications.
“Governor Jerry 'Moonbeam' Brown pardoned 5 criminal
illegal aliens whose crimes include (1) Kidnapping and Robbery (2) Badly
beating wife and threatening a crime with intent to terrorize (3)
Dealing drugs. Is this really what the great people of California want?
@FoxNews,” tweeted Trump.
The president’s remarks follow Brown’s pardon Friday of
56 convicted felons, two of whom were members of families that fled the
Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia four decades ago.
It was the Democrat governor’s third consecutive pardon
round in which he intervened on behalf of immigrants who faced
deportation because of criminal conditions.
The pardons don’t automatically stop deportation
proceedings, but they eliminate the state convictions on which federal
authorities based their deportation decisions on.
"The pardon does provide enormous benefit to immigrants
facing deportation," said Anoop Prasad, an immigration staff attorney
at Asian Law Caucus.
Trump’s remarks continued a war of words between him
and Brown, who has accused the administration of “basically going to
war” with California over immigration policy.
Brown last year signed sanctuary legislation limiting state and local cooperation with federal enforcement of immigration laws.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions responded with a Justice
Department lawsuit seeking to invalidate three state laws protecting
residents living in the country without documentation.
The pardons included Sokha Chhan and Phann Pheach, both
of whom face deportation to Cambodia, a country ruled in the 1970s by
the genocidal Khmer Rouge. Chhan was convicted of two counts of
misdemeanor domestic violence in 2002 and served 364 days in jail.
Pheach was convicted of possessing drugs and
obstructing a police officer in 2005 and served six months in jail. His
wife said he is in federal custody.
Also pardoned was Daniel Maher, who was convicted in
1995 of kidnapping, robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm
and served five years in prison. Maher is facing deportation to China.
Chhan, Pheach and Maher hold permanent U.S. residency
but had exhausted all legal avenues to fight deportation, making Brown's
pardons for them their last hope to stay in the U.S., Prasad said.
"This is a life-changing, enormous event," he said.
Also pardoned while facing deportation were Daniel Mena
and Francisco Acevedo Alaniz, but their home countries were not
immediately known. Mena was convicted in 2003 of possessing illegal
drugs. Alaniz served five months in prison for a 1997 auto theft
conviction.
Brown on Friday also commuted the sentences of 14 others convicted of crimes.
The governor is a former Jesuit seminarian and
traditionally issues pardons close to major Christian holidays. Easter
falls on Sunday.
