Sae Joon Park came to America at age 7, to join his mother who was here already. He grew up, joined the Army, and was part of the US invasion of Panama in 1989, where he caught a couple of bullets and was discharged with a Purple Heart.

Fast forward to 2009, and Park, who may have had undiagnosed PTSD from getting shot, had been busted for possession of crack and missed a court date (to try to avoid a piss test he knew he’d fail). After he served time for that, his green card was revoked, but he appealed and got “deferred action” status on the condition that he stay out of further trouble.

(The immigration court’s reasoning for giving him that status hasn’t been made public yet, but “as a combat veteran, he would’ve been a US citizen years ago if a previous administration hadn’t been too chickenshit to call what happened to Panama a war” is reason enough, IMO.)

Fast forward again, to earlier this month, and Park, now in his 50s, is a solid and clean-living family man who works at a car dealership. But…

U.S. Army Purple Heart veteran forced to self-deport from Hawaii

After nearly losing his life in combat, Sae Joon Park was told by ICE he had three weeks to return to South Korea.

…because ICE couldn’t care less that Park is so stereotypically American he could be a supporting character in a Tom Clancy novel; they have a quota to meet.

The story made the national news, of course; it’s clear enough a betrayal of everything precious generations of righties claimed to stand for to rank among the… let’s say the top 20 federal outrages. This month.

NPR’s coverage was somber, sorrowful, and seemingly resigned, which fits with NPR’s house style. It included the detail that Park’s uncle was a colonel in the South Korean military, which is why Park thought of enlisting.

Newsweek had a slightly fuller statement from Park:

“President Trump sucks. I will try to come back after Trump leaves.”

Even the righties at Newsmax, squirm though they might, couldn’t do more than try to downplay the case as “unusual” and wonder whether Park had sought out legal help… after citing the Newsweek story, which quoted Park’s lawyer. The Daily Caller, meanwhile, mostly just rehashed the other reports.

Neither righty outlet repeated DHS pro bullshitter Tricia McLaughlin’s claim that Park had an “extensive criminal history” that included assault and weapons possession convictions; so far that I’ve seen, only Newsweek has, for completion’s sake.

And… that’s that, probably. Despite what he says now, I’d be surprised if Park ever came back, and I don’t blame him. I also wouldn’t be surprised if some of his kids at least thought of joining him in Korea; sure, they’re US citizens and have done nothing wrong or illegal as far as we know, but what does that matter these days?

Meanwhile, some ICEhole is probably proud of the work he did ridding the mean streets of Hawaii of a middle-aged car salesman who (for those still clinging to righty pieties) literally bled for this country.