Governor Paterson of New York who promised to grant Pardons to immigrants who had committed minor crimes or had occurred years ago, just fulfilled his promise, granting a Pardon to a Chinese man who as an adolescent had been involved in a series of muggings in Chinatown, NY. Immigration officers recently jailed him for mandatory deportation to China, where he had not lived since the age of 5. He had promised the Judge who sentenced him when he was a teenager to reform, and since he had bettered himself by becoming an information technology executive rising from his childhood condition of poverty, the Judge recommended him for a Pardon. The Governor granted it and as a result the young man just obtained his U.S. citizenship and will not be separated here from his home and his family.

The Governor created on May 5, 2010 a Special Immigrant Board of Pardons to review cases of immigrants threatened with deportation for minor or old crimes.

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