Purple Heart Vet with 50 years in USA self deports to S. Korea

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Army veteran self-deports after nearly 50 years in the U.S. : NPR https://share.google/GBvqDEA5S5B3LAUJF



For 55-year-old U.S. Army veteran Sae Joon Park, this was the hardest moment of his life. Not getting shot in combat. Not the years battling post-traumatic stress disorder or addiction. Not prison. It was leaving the U.S., a country he called home for nearly five decades.

On Monday, Park, a green-card holder, self-deported to South Korea. His removal order was the result of charges related to drug possession and failure to appear in court from over 15 years ago — offenses that, he said, stemmed from years of untreated PTSD.


Park's story reflects both the challenges of life after combat and the perils that noncitizen veterans face if caught in the legal system — realities made harsher amid the Trump administration's push for record deportations.

" I can't believe that this is happening in America," Park told NPR in an interview prior to his departure. "That blows me away, like a country that I fought for."

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That changed earlier this month. At a meeting with local ICE officials in Hawaii, Park said he was warned that he would be detained and deported unless he left voluntarily within the next few weeks.