Chris came to the United States from Jamaica at the age of seven and grew up in New York. As a youth, he was arrested twice and served his sentence. Later, he married Toya - his high school sweetheart - and they started a family with two children and a move to Charlotte, North Carolina. Eager to become a U.S. citizen after twenty years, in 2016 Chris applied to naturalize. Despite his long residency in the U.S., it was his citizenship application that triggered his detention and deportation proceedings. Based on his old criminal case, Chris was deported to Jamaica. Chris has been separated from his wife Toya, his mother Donna, his two children and the rest of his family for the past seven years.
We first heard from Chris and his wife in August of 2022. After we spoke with them, collected documents and provided a legal analysis it became clear the only way Chris could come home was if he was granted a pardon from Governor Hochul. Chris had already tried this. He had filed a pardon application his own years earlier but never got any response. Together with Chris, his family, and partners in the Clemency Coalition of NY, we advocated heavily for the Governor to grant Chris a pardon. We talked with our contacts in the Governor’s office, reached out to elected officials, and led digital days of action to engage the public.
