Catholic leaders pushed Newsom to pardon attempted murderer as defiance of ICE

California Gov. Gavin Newsom was relying on Catholic Church leaders’ assurances when he pardoned an attempted murder convict, protecting him from deportation.

Mr. Newsom’s office said Monday that the Catholic bishop in San Diego and a parish pastor have vouched for Somboon Phaymany, the Cambodian national who was pardoned Friday for 10 counts of attempted murder and 18 counts of assault with a firearm.

In a letter to the governor, Bishop Michael Pham and the Rev. Scott Santarosa said Mr. Phaymany “underwent a radical transformation” while serving his 20-year prison sentence.

But they also urged the governor to deliver the pardon as a way to defy President Trump’s Homeland Security Department, saying DHS is perpetrating an “injustice” with its push for deportations.

“We know that any chance they get, DHS will move to deport people just to make their quotas,” the clerics said. “As people of faith, we believe this is unjust.”

They added: “Please, therefore, pardon Boon so he might remain in this country and continue doing his good work.”

The Washington Times was the first to report on the pardon and its immigration implications.

Mr. Phaymany took part in a gang-connected drive-by shooting at age 19. He admitted to providing one of the guns used, and was in one of the drive-by vehicles, though he didn’t actually pull the trigger. Miraculously, nobody was killed in the attack.

Homeland Security had previously tried to deport him but he earned a pandemic-era release.

The Catholic clergy members said they believed he faced a renewed danger of deportation under the new Trump administration.

Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Mr. Newsom’s pardon, which erased the grounds for Mr. Phaymany’s deportation, was “absolute insanity.”

“These are the criminal illegal aliens he and his sanctuary politicians are protecting. He is putting the lives of all Americans at risk,” Ms. McLaughlin said.

Mr. Newsom’s office bristled at the criticism.

“During this Lenten season — a time of repentance and forgiveness — we will continue to take our cues from religious leaders, not those who claim Christian Nationalism but can’t tell Peter from Paul,” the governor’s office said on social media.

“Spare us the outrage,” the office added.

Mr. Newsom has made a practice of using pardons to block deportations.

It works in cases where someone was living here as a legal immigrant at the time of the crime. That crime can make them deportable. But if the crime is forgiven, the grounds for deportation can evaporate.