Tag Archives: US citizenship

Guardian: Purple heart army veteran self-deports after 50 years from ‘country I fought for’

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Green card holder Sae Joon Park left for South Korea after saying he was being targeted by Trump administration

A US army veteran who lived in the country for nearly 50 years – and earned a prestigious military citation for being wounded in combat – has left for South Korea after he says past struggles with drug addiction left him targeted by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

“I can’t believe this is happening in America,” Sae Joon Park, who held legal permanent residency, told National Public Radio in an interview before his departure Monday from Hawaii. “That blows me away – like [it is] a country that I fought for.”

Park’s remarks to NPR and the Hawaii news station KITV vividly illustrate the effects that Donald Trump’s immigration policies can have on those who came to the US from abroad and obtained so-called green cards. His experience also highlights the challenges that noncitizens can face if they are ensnared by legal problems after serving the US military.

As the 55-year-old Park put it, he was brought to the US from South Korea at age seven and enlisted in the army after high school. He later participated in the US’s invasion of Panama in 1989 that toppled the regime of General Manuel Noriega – who was wanted by American authorities on accusations of drug trafficking, money laundering and racketeering.

During what was codenamed Operation Just Cause, Park was shot in the back during an exchange of gunfire with Panamanian troops. He flew back to the US, accepted the Purple Heart decoration given to US military members who are hurt or wounded in combat, secured an honorable discharge from the army and began physically recovering.

But he had difficulty grappling with post-traumatic stress disorder from being shot, and he became addicted to the illicit drug crack cocaine as he tried to cope, he recounted to NPR.

Park spent a few years in prison beginning in 2009 after police in New York arrested him while he tried to buy crack from a dealer one night, he said. At one point, Park skipped a court hearing related to his arrest knowing he would fail a required drug test. That doomed his chances of converting his legal residency into full US citizenship, which the government offers to military veterans who arrive to the country from abroad and serve honorably.

Purple heart army veteran self-deports after 50 years from ‘country I fought for’
Green card holder Sae Joon Park left for South Korea after saying he was being targeted by Trump administration

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/26/trump-immigration-veteran-self-deports

CNN: DHS posted an image calling for help locating ‘all foreign invaders.’ It was previously circulated by far-right accounts

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On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security posted a striking graphic on its official X account. Uncle Sam, a symbol of American patriotism, is depicted nailing a poster to a wall that reads, “Help your country… and yourself.” Written underneath the poster is the sentence, “REPORT ALL FOREIGN INVADERS,” and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement hot line.

The post — which DHS and the White House also posted to Instagram — prompted a flood of criticism, with some social media users comparing the post to authoritarian propaganda. On Thursday, at least two far-right X accounts claimed to have a hand in creating or disseminating the image before it was shared by DHS. A source within DHS told CNN the agency did not create the graphic.

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The Uncle Sam graphic is reminiscent of media used previously by other governments to provoke fear, especially of immigrants, said Elisabeth Fondren, a journalism professor at St. John’s University who has studied government propaganda and communications during war times.

“This poster fits within a long history of anti-immigrant rhetoric and, yes, state propaganda,” Fondren said. “It evokes these remnants of Cold War, fake propaganda by the Russians, or, you know, authoritarian fear mongering messages … but what I think is so interesting is that this is a call to action in an environment where we’re not in a war.”

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Perhaps from here:

The image of the Uncle Sam poster was posted on X last Friday, around the time tensions in Los Angeles escalated, by podcaster C. Jay Engel, who describes himself as “Christian nationalist adjacent” and has claimed that “nations cannot survive replacement migration.” After DHS shared the Uncle Sam image, Engel posted: “This image came from my account. NEVER STOP POSTING.”

“The question is, ‘Is there room for like-minded Christians and patriots in Tennessee?’” the podcaster, Engel, said in an October podcast, in response to a listener’s question. “Yes, there’s an imperative for like-minded Christians to gather and fight with us.”

Or maybe:

Although Engel circulated the image of the Uncle Sam poster, another X user claimed to have created the image. That pseudonymous X account, which has the words “Wake Up White Man” in its biography, is full of nativist rhetoric and reposted another X user who declared: “Whites deserve our own nations, like everyone else is allowed to have.” The pseudonymous account appears to have been the first to post the image.

It’s beyond disgusting that Homeland Security is sourcing such material from white supremacists.

DHS defends social media post calling for public to help ICE locate ‘all foreign invaders’ | CNN Politics
On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security posted a striking graphic on its official X account. Uncle Sam, a symbol of American patriotism, is depicted nailing a poster to a wall that reads, “Help your country… and yourself.” Written underneath the poster is the sentence, “REPORT ALL FOREIGN INVADERS,” and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement hot line.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/12/politics/dhs-social-media-post-ice-deportations-criticisms