Army veteran with Purple Heart leaves Hawaii voluntarily

HONOLULU (KABC) — Sae Joon Park had been living in the U.S. since he was 7 years old. The Army veteran was wounded in combat while fighting for the country and was awarded the Purple Heart.

But after living in the U.S. for nearly 50 years, he self-deported to South Korea after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement threatened to lock him up for a drug offense conviction.

“It’s so real. I was in disbelief until the last minute, but reality is hitting real hard, and it is definitely real,” Park told television station KITV in Hawaii. “And I really can’t believe this is happening.”

Loved ones, including his mother and two aunties, said their goodbyes to him Monday at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu.

Park’s mother brought him to the U.S. when he was 7.

“She’s like, early stage of, like, dementia right now,” Park told KITV. “She’s coming through, so she’s on and off. She kind of doesn’t know really what’s going on.”

Park also has an adult daughter and son. He told KITV he’s thought about the possibility of never getting to see his mother and children again.

“I won’t be there for a funeral, like my daughter getting married, just there’s a lot of things connected with it. I definitely know that,” he said.

Park said he had a problem earlier in life with drugs and became an addict. He was convicted of a drug offense.

“And I think generally in society that is what people would consider very serious crimes for immigrants to commit,” Park’s attorney Danicole Ramos said. “But also in immigration law, one of the things that they also consider, apparently an aggravated felony is jumping bail.”

The Purple Heart recipient considers himself lucky to have had the ability to self-deport.

“They were ready to lock me up,” he said. “And that is so unfair, and so many people are getting locked up.”