House Foreign Affairs Ranking Member Meeks, Castro Introduce Resolution Condemning Trump’s Pardon of Notorious Drug Trafficker

Washington, D.C.- Representatives Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Joaquin Castro, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, today introduced a resolution condemning President Trump's pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted and sentenced in an American court to 45 years in federal prison for trafficking drugs into the United States.

"While the Trump administration carries out its reckless military buildup and potential war crimes in the Western Hemisphere under the guise of preventing drugs from entering our country, Trump's pardon of Juan Orlando Hernandez-an actual, convicted narco-trafficker who flooded American communities with 400 tons of cocaine-illustrates the hypocrisy and corruption that are hallmarks of this administration. It further demonstrates that the administration's real objective for its military buildup and lethal strikes is less about drugs and more about threatening a reckless and open-ended war with Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro.

"President Trump owes an explanation to the families impacted by Hernández's drug trafficking conspiracy, and to the American people, on why he pardoned someone who stated his goal to 'shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos.' Our Congressional colleagues should join in condemning this lawlessness and scrutinizing Trump's corrupt ties to a growing list of pardoned individuals. But one thing is crystal clear: Trump is not acting for the benefit of Americans."

A PDF of the resolution can be found here.

Original cosponsors include every Member of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, including Representatives Dina Titus, Sara Jacobs, Greg Stanton, Jonathan Jackson, and Sydney Kamlager-Dove.