USJUN 25, 2025
ICE Forces Purple Heart Veteran To Self-Deport After Taking Two Bullets During Combat
A Purple Hearts veteran who was shot twice during active service has been forced to self-deport from the U.S. amid Donald Trump's large-scale immigration crackdown.
Sae Joon Park, who has lived in the country since the age of seven, was awarded a Purple Heart after being shot twice while fighting in Panama during the Noriega war in 1989.
Highlights
- Purple Heart veteran Sae Joon Park, shot twice in combat, was forced to self-deport after ICE ended his deferred action status.
- Park’s deportation is tied to a 15-year-old drug offense linked to his PTSD from military service in Panama, he claimed.
- Park had only three weeks to prepare for self-deportation and must leave his family behind, missing life's major moments.
Park, 55, has now been forced to leave his entire family behind to return to South Korea after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ended his deferred action status.
Sae Joon Park was awarded a Purple Heart for his service in Panama in 1989
Image credits: Hawaii News Now
“This really kills me that I just have to drop everything and leave like this,” Park told Hawaii News Now.
The decision to end Park’s status relates to a 15-year-old drug offense, which Park says was connected to severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from his time in the military.
He signed up to serve when he was just 19, and during active combat in Panama, a dog tag saved his life by deflecting a bullet that was headed for his spine.
“I got shot in the spine with an AK-47, M16 my left lower back,“ Park recalled. ”In my mind, I’m going, ‘Oh my god, I’m shot in the back. I can’t feel my legs. I must be paralyzed.’”
Image credits: Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
“People were saying ‘You took two bullets for this country.' Like you’re more American than most of the Americans living in America.”
After being honorably discharged, Park started to use marijuana to cope with his symptoms and eventually became addicted to crack cocaine.
He struggled to get clean and was convicted of a drug and bail offense in 2009, but turned his life around after a two-year prison sentence.
Image credits: Hawaii News Now
“I get it. I broke the law and everything, but I think this is a little severe what they’re doing to me after I paid my dues, after I did my time for the offense that I did,” Park said.
“I thought I was doing my part to do whatever I have to do to be a good citizen and do everything right to stay in this country.”
While his green card was revoked upon release, he fought the deportation in court and was allowed to remain in the U.S. under deferred action.
Park suffered from PTSD after being discharged from service
Image credits: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Park, who had to have annual check-ins and stay clean, became a carer of his parents and aunts, all in their eighties, and has two children in their twenties.
When ICE ended his deferred action status, he was told he could either self-deport or be forcibly removed from the country.
He was allowed just three weeks to say his goodbyes and get things in order, while wearing an ankle monitor.
“Let’s say [my daughter] gets married, I won’t be there,” Park told Hawaii News Now.
Image credits: Raphaël GAILLARDE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
“Let’s say my parents pass away, I won’t be there. You know, so many things that I’ll be missing.
“And for sure things are going to happen, I just can’t be there, which is heartbreaking.”
It comes amid Trump’s massive immigration crackdown and large-scale deportations, with the administration also urging people to “self-deport” to avoid future penalties.