Lawmakers want Hochul to use clemency power to protect immigrants

As the Trump administration continues its aggressive deportation agenda, some lawmakers and advocates see executive clemency as an underutilized lever of power to protect New Yorkers against immigration enforcement. They’re pushing for legislation known as the Clemency Justice Act, which would make applying for clemency easier and more transparent, and imploring Gov. Kathy Hochul to exercise her pardon power more frequently 

Sponsored by state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and Assembly Member Michaelle Solages, the Clemency Justice Act would in many ways formalize the process for applying for clemency. Currently, New Yorkers receive no receipt after submitting an application for clemency and have no way of tracking the status of the application once it is in. The bill would require the state to provide notice it has received the application and create a system in which a person can check in on the status of their application. It would also allow applicants to request expedited review of their clemency request if they have an urgent need for action, and require the governor to release quarterly reports on her clemency actions.

“I introduced the Clemency Justice Act to bring transparency and accountability to a process that, for too long, has been opaque and inconsistent,” Solages said in a statement. “Today, individuals and families can submit an application for executive clemency and wait years without a single update or any clear timeline, even in urgent situations like pending deportation or serious health crises.”

The use of clemency to avoid deportation proceedings is not a new idea – and Hochul has used her authority for that purpose in the past. She issued a number of pardons last year, including at least one for an immigrant facing deportation. “They’ve paid their debt, and I’ll be damned if I let them be deported to a country where they don’t know a soul,” Hochul said at the time. “And to those who would demonize them to score political points, I ask: Where is your compassion?” She issued similar pardons in 2024 as well. 

But advocates want her to go further. “In this moment of increasing suffering, we implore you to continue to use your clemency power to protect New Yorkers who face family separation – whether due to Trump’s cruel deportation agenda who seek pardons or due to unjust sentences in the New York state prison system who seek commutations,” read a letter from advocates sent last year after a series of clemencies in August. “The stroke of your pen can make all the difference for these New Yorkers and their families.” The governor issued 13 more clemencies in December last year, bringing her total to 120 since taking office. Hochul had promised when she first took office to grant clemencies on a rolling basis, and while she contends that is what she has done, advocates feel she has largely failed to live up to that promise.

According to a bill memo, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo received nearly 6,500 clemency applications in the three years between 2017 and 2020 and only issued 81 pardons and 14 commutations in that time. According to the Queens Daily Eagle, Hochul had about 1,800 pending clemency requests as of August last year. But her office offered little information into the opaque process behind reviewing those requests.

Activists hope making the entire process more transparent will both help those seeking clemency, and shine a light on the governor’s actions for increased accountability. “The Clemency Justice Act does not, unfortunately, compel Governor Hochul to have to wake up every morning and look at the pile of pardons on her desk for noncitizens currently facing deportation and sign a bunch of them,” said Yasmine Farhang, executive director of the Immigrant Defense Project. But she said the reforms will at least answer questions for those waiting for answers. “It falls into a black hole sometimes … So many people don't know what's happening, if it’s really being considered, where it is in the process or whether you'll ever hear anything back at all.”

Advocates will be in Albany on Wednesday to lobby for the Clemency Justice Act in hopes that it will pass this year. “Even in this time where there's sort of pressure on the Legislature to take action in response to immigration, it has been a challenge to get the legislators to understand that this is one of the solutions, and to put it in the immigration bucket,” Farhang said.

A spokesperson for Hochul pointed to steps that the administration has already taken to improve the clemency process, but did not say where she stands on the specific legislation. “Governor Hochul made significant changes to strengthen New York’s clemency program by creating a panel of experts to advise on cases under review and providing applicants with an updated website and new application forms,” the spokesperson said. “This administration remains committed to a fair and thorough clemency process, and the Governor will review all legislation that passes both houses of the state legislature.”