Noem grilled over Purple Heart Army veteran forced to self-deport

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COURTESY PHOTOS

Sae Joon Park takes a selfie with his ohana in Hawaii. At left, Park as a young infantryman in Panama before he was seriously wounded and received a Purple Heart.

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ANNA MONEYMAKER / TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-Rhode Island, held a tablet connected to a Zoom call with Army veteran and green-card holder Sae Joon Park, who was taken into custody by Customs and Border Protection and self-deported to South Korea.

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ELIZABETH FRANTZ / REUTERS

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem attends a House Homeland Security hearing entitled “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland,” on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S. December 11, 2025.

The saga of an Army veteran with Hawaii ties who legally immigrated to the United States, was wounded in combat and self-deported to South Korea earlier this year, became a flashpoint during a testy congressional hearing about the Trump administration’s immigration policy.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was grilled Thursday on Capitol Hill about military veterans deported during the immigration crackdown launched earlier this year, including in Los Angeles.

“Sir, we have not deported U.S. citizens or military veterans,” Noem responded when questioned by U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I.

An aide then held up a tablet showing a Zoom connection with Purple Heart recipient Sae Joon Park in South Korea. The congressman argued that Park had “sacrificed more for this country than most people ever have” and asked Noem if she would investigate Park’s case given her discretion as a Cabinet member. Noem pledged to “absolutely look at his case.”

Park, reached in Seoul on Thursday night, said he was skeptical that Noem would follow through on her promise, but said that he had “goosebumps” watching the congressional hearing.

“It was amazing. And then I’m getting tons of phone calls from all my friends back home and everywhere else. I’m so very grateful for everything that happened today,” Park, 56, said, noting that friends told him that a clip of his story appeared on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show Thursday night.

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The late-night host featured footage of Park’s moment in the congressional hearing in his opening monologue.

“Is anyone OK with this? Seriously, all kidding aside, we deported a veteran with a Purple Heart?” Kimmel said, adding that Republicans “claim to care so much about veterans, but they don’t at all.”

Park legally immigrated to the United States when he was 7, grew up in L.A.’s Koreatown and the San Fernando Valley, and joined the Army after graduating from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks in 1988.

The green card holder was deployed to Panama in 1989 as the U.S. tried to depose the nation’s de facto leader, Gen. Manuel Noriega. Park was shot twice and honorably discharged.

But after leaving the Army, he suffered from untreated PTSD and began self-medicating with illicit drugs. To make matters worse, during the 1992 L.A. riots his family’s business was among those targeted and burned to the ground.

After the riots, a cousin in Hawaii recommended the family move to the islands to get a new start. Park got married and had two children in Hawaii, but his ongoing struggles with PTSD and addiction led to the marriage collapsing.

Park went to New York to live with his cousin after separating from his wife, and he was ultimately arrested there for attempting to buy crack. He jumped bail and returned to Hawaii, but was caught and extradited back to New York where he was charged and sentenced.

He sobered up in prison. When he was released, immigration officials issued Park a removal order, but they allowed him to stay in the country as long as he attended regular check-ins with federal agents. His military service and later good behavior in prison made him a low priority for deportation.

He returned to the islands and over the last decade, he raised his now-grown children in Hawaii and until this summer had been working at Aloha Kia.

Earlier this year, when Park checked in for his annual meeting with federal officials to verify his sobriety and employment, he was given the option of being immediately detained and deported, or wearing an ankle monitor for three weeks as he got his affairs in order before leaving the country for a decade.

At the time, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Park had an “extensive criminal history” and had been given a final removal order, with the option to self-deport.

Park chose to leave the country voluntarily. He initially struggled to acclimate in a nation he hasn’t lived in since he was a child, but said Thursday night that his mental state — and his Korean language skills — have improved.

“It hasn’t been easy. Of course, I miss home like crazy,” he said. “I’m doing the best I can. I’m usually a very positive person, so I feel like everything happens for a reason, and I’m just trying to hang in there until hopefully I make it back home.”

Among Park’s top concerns when he left Hawaii in June was that his mother, who is 86 and struggling with dementia, would pass away while he couldn’t return to the county. But her lack of awareness about his situation has been somewhat of a strange blessing, Park said.

“She really doesn’t know I’m even here. So every time I talk to her, she’s like, ‘Oh, where are you,’ and I tell her, and she’s like, ‘Oh, when are you coming home? Oh, why are you there?’” Park said. “In a weird way, it’s kind of good because she doesn’t have to worry about me all the time. But at the same time, I would love to be next to her while she’s going through this.”

Honolulu Star-Advertiser staff writer Kevin Knodell contributed to this report.

This Los Angeles Times story was distributed by Tribune News Service.

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