New York Governor Kathy Hochul granted a pardon on August 28 to Keisy Guerrero Mariano, a Dominican immigrant serving time for second-degree assault in 2015. This decision contrasts sharply with the pardons she gave to five non-violent offenders from earlier decades. Hochul’s action was politically motivated to prevent the Supreme Court from setting precedents that could restrict immigration leniency. The pardon undermines ICE's ability to deport Guerrero Mariano and thwarts a legal challenge intended to establish criteria for bond hearings, which can delay deportation of criminal immigrants. Critics argue this move prioritizes liberal immigration policies over public safety concerns.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-15,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
How far will New York Gov. Kathy Hochul go to keep immigrant criminals in this country?
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Hochul → go → country
So far she’ll even pardon a man convicted of an aggravated felony, if that’s what it takes to prevent the US Supreme Court from setting a restrictionist precedent.
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it → pardon → precedent
Keisy Guerrero Mariano is a Dominican who spent two years in prison for committing a violent crime — second-degree assault.
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who → spend → crime
Guerrero Mariano, known as “G.M.” in court documents, is exactly the sort of lawbreaker Americans overwhelmingly want to see deported.
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Americans → know → lawbreaker
But not Hochul; she granted him clemency on Aug. 28.
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she → grant → Aug.
His case stood out from those of the other five people she pardoned that day.
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she → stand → people
The others were non-violent offenders who’d committed their crimes decades ago — two in the 1980s, two in the ’90s, and just one as recently as 2007.
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who → commit → 2007
G.M. was convicted in 2015.
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G.M. → convict → 2015
Yet the governor decided he merited special leniency, for political reasons.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested G.M. in 2020, intending to deport him based on his criminal record.
ICE had to let him go in 2022, however, because of a nationwide injunction related to COVID that required the agency to review custody of individuals with certain medical conditions.
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that → decide → conditions
While ICE had him, though, G.M.’s lawyers challenged the agency’s right to hold him for a prolonged time without a bond hearing.
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lawyers → have → hearing
That’s what Hochul’s pardon is really about.
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pardon → ’ → what
President Donald Trump’s Justice Department planned to make the Dominican’s appeals a test case before the Supreme Court — one likely to establish that G.M. and others like him are not entitled to a bond hearing.
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G.M. → plan → hearing
Bond hearings are an easily exploited weakness in America’s immigration security: They protract the legal process of deporting lawbreakers, while also giving them an opportunity to get out of detention temporarily — and then permanently, by failing to show up when they’re due for their next hearing.
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they → exploit → hearing
G.M. came to this country legally in 2011, but he forfeited any right to remain here once he committed a felony.
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he → come → felony
Now Hochul has nullified his conviction to undercut ICE’s grounds for removing him, and to collapse the appeals process that was leading to the Supreme Court — and a probable defeat for those who want to make deportation as difficult as possible.
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deportation → nullify → those
The governor isn’t looking out for New Yorkers here.
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governor → look → Yorkers
Her maneuver is about liberal politicians’ zeal for maximum immigration, even when it means letting violent criminals remain in our communities.
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criminals → mean → communities
This is the second lucky break Hochul’s side has had recently.
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side → have → ?
Another test case the Trump administration had teed up, involving a Jamaican national convicted (also in New York) of sexually abusing a child under the age of 11, was taken out of the courts as well, after the offender left the country and filed a court declaration saying he wouldn’t be coming back to America.
Self-deportation is one way to get immigrants convicted of heinous crimes out of here, but ICE can’t deport someone who has already deported himself — so this perpetrator’s claim of a right to a bond hearing is now completely moot.
The big question still must be answered, though:
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question → tee → hearing
immigration-enforcement officials detain these violent perps and sex offenders until they can be tossed out?
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they → detain → perps
Or if they’ve been in custody for a while, are they entitled to bond hearings that will further delay their removal — and give them the chance to escape back into Americans’ neighborhoods?
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that → entitle → neighborhoods
Solicitor General John Sauer says he’s not going to let Hochul’s gambit succeed.
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gambit → say → ?
Guerrero Mariano’s case may have been pulled, but Sauer aims to find another that will bring the fight to the Supreme Court.
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that → pull → Court
“Mandatory deportation” should mean just that.
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deportation → mean → that
Even a legal immigrant who commits a serious offense ought to be expelled promptly, and he shouldn’t get the benefit of a bond hearing just because his case takes longer than it should and he winds up in “prolonged” detention.
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he → commit → detention
He shouldn’t get the benefit of a liberal governor’s partisan machinations, either.
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He → get → machinations
New Yorkers — American citizens — elected Kathy Hochul.
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Yorkers → elect → Hochul
She should put them first, not foreigners who commit crimes while they’re here — legally or otherwise.
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they → put → crimes
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