A Korean-American man who was released from prison after serving a prison sentence for committing murder in the United States is at risk of deportation to South Korea. The man is petitioning for a pardon from deportation.

According to the LA Times on the 19th (local time), Justin Chung, 33, missed the opportunity to apply for permanent residency while serving time in prison after being convicted of murder at the age of 16. He is currently released from prison with a parole order, but he is in danger of being kicked back to his home country, Korea, with a deportation order. He is pleading for mercy, saying that he cannot leave his family behind and go to Korea.

Mr. Jeong introduced his story through podcast broadcasting, YouTube, and TikTok. He left Korea with his parents when he was 2 years old and immigrated to the United States. Mr. Jeong confessed, “Since his childhood, his parents were busy with their livelihoods, so he spent a lot of time alone.” He started to deviate because he could not adapt well to life in the United States. At 16, he joined a Korean-American gang in Rancho Cucamonga, California.

Eventually a problem arose. In August 2006, while attending a party held near Los Angeles (LA) with colleagues, they clashed with another Korean-American gang who misunderstood them as Chinese. In the process, Jeong killed a 21-year-old man with a gun. The murdered man was not a member of the gang-fighting gang and was an innocent citizen.

Since then, the circle in which Mr. Jeong was located was disbanded, and some were deported to Korea. In October of the following year, a court in Pomona, California, sentenced Chung to 82 years in prison for first-degree murder.

It was practically a life sentence, but Chung was recognized for his exemplary prison life during his sentence and was reduced to 15 years in prison by the governor of California. He served about 14 years in prison and was released in June 2020 with a court order for parole.

However, due to his long imprisonment, he missed the time to apply for permanent residency in the United States, so he was ordered deported and transferred to the US Immigration Service. Later, when the Corona 19 epidemic became serious, the immigration department released Mr. Jeong on the condition of attaching an electronic anklet and reporting his residence.

Jeong, who has returned to society, is working at the Onesimo Mission in Buena Park, California, and is appealing for pardon for deportation. He appealed to California Governor Gavin Newsom to pardon his deportation, saying, “The United States, where I came when I was two and lived for 30 years, is my country.” In the petition he posted, he said he wanted to “stay in California with his family” and asked Governor Newsom to send him a pardon. Currently, about 5,700 people have signed the petition.

Mr. Jeong said, “I am sincerely sorry. I am truly sorry for what I have done, and I think every day of the pain the victim and the bereaved must have suffered,” he said.

Jeong’s appeal for pardon was strongly resisted by the bereaved family. The bereaved family emphasized, “The series of actions Mr. Jeong takes makes our family feel the pain we felt when we lost our son.”

Source: Donga