A pillar of the community.
Via Fox News:
Colorado’s governor issued a controversial pardon Friday to stop the deportation of a convicted armed robber to Cuba but the district attorney whose office prosecuted the man questions its validity.
Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, says that with the pardon he has done everything he can to keep Rene Lima-Marin, 38, in the U.S.
He came to the U.S. as a toddler as part of the 1980 Mariel boat lift from Cuba and had legal residency until it was revoked following his 2000 criminal conviction. Lima-Marin was sentenced to 98 years in prison for the robbery. But he was mistakenly paroled from Colorado state prison in 2008.
Lima-Marin married, had a child and got a steady job installing glass before state authorities realized their mistake in 2014 and sent him back for the remainder of his 98-year prison sentence.
Fox 31 Denver reports that after a judge released Lim-Martin from prison earlier this week immigration authorities moved in to detain him before he could be reunited with his family.
“Law-abiding, very successful, constructive member of society,” Hickenlooper said after issuing the pardon Friday, the station reported. “It’s a remarkable story.”