New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has issued a full state pardon to a Dominican Republic national convicted of assault, an action that wipes out the criminal record underpinning a U.S. Supreme Court case over whether detained noncitizens have a right to a bond hearing.
The recipient, Keisy Guerrero Mariano, was convicted of second-degree assault in 2015 and served time for the crime. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him in 2020 and moved to deport him, citing the conviction as grounds for removal under immigration law. In 2024, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that prolonged detention can give a migrant a constitutional claim to a bond hearing, and the Trump administration appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court, which agreed to take up the case.
The administration’s position, according to Fox News, was that noncitizens — including green card holders — do not have a legal right to a bond hearing during prolonged detention if they have committed crimes that make them subject to mandatory deportation.
By pardoning Mariano’s underlying conviction, Hochul removed the basis for his removal case, effectively mooting the Supreme Court matter. The case, Kenneth Genalo, Director of the New York Field Office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, et al., Petitioners v. Carol Williams Black, et al., No. 25-886, originated in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. With the pardon in place, the Supreme Court will no longer hear it, and the federal government will need a different case to press its argument on bond rights for detained noncitizens.
The move drew criticism from Iowa Solicitor General Eric Wessan, who questioned the governor’s approach to migrants with criminal records.
“I wonder how many non-American felons Governors like Hochul will choose to fully pardon and free to avoid them facing consequences for their actions,” Wessan wrote.
Hochul’s office has used the pardon power before in cases touching on immigration enforcement. The pardon means Mariano’s conviction can no longer serve as grounds for his deportation, at least on the record the government had built its case around.
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