Sae Joon Park came to the United States from South Korea when he was 7 years old, and grew up to serve in the U.S. Army, seeing combat during Operation Just Cause in 1989, where he was wounded. This week, he self-deported after being told to do so by immigration services.
Park's platoon came under attack during Just Cause, and he was wounded by gunfire from Panamanian soldiers, as reported by NPR. The incident created long-term mental health issues for Park, which he didn't realize at that time was PTSD. He treated the symptoms with illicit drugs.
Police arrested him for attempting to buy crack cocaine in New York, and when the judge ordered him to get clean and show up in his courtroom clean, he knew he couldn't and skipped bail. Those criminal charges prevented Park, a green card holder, from becoming a naturalized citizen and from seeking relief from a deportation order.
Eventually, Park spent three years in prison, which helped him finally get clean from drugs and begin to get his life back together. He moved to Hawaii to be close to his family and worked at a car dealership while raising a son and daughter. As a condition for remaining in America, Park had to check in regularly with federal agents to make sure he was staying on track. That abruptly changed in early June.
With the Trump administration mandating sweeping changes to immigration policy, Park was informed by ICE officials that if he did not self-deport that he would be detained and forcibly deported. On June 23, he boarded an airplane and left the United States, believing that he would never see his 89-year-old mother again.
" I have to accept the fact that this is probably the last time I'll see her," he told NPR.