Zhuo (Simon) Liu immigrated to the U.S. with his family when he was 15. A year later, Simon took part in a robbery orchestrated by an older man. He ended up serving 21 years for this act. But Simon was also punished for a sexual assault crime that he did not witness, participate in, or have knowledge of.

Now Simon is facing deportation at the hands of ICE for a mistake he made as a youth and for a crime he did not commit.

Simon’s story is complex, but it is not unique. As an immigrant youth, the U.S. education system was not set up to meet his language needs and help him succeed. Simon struggled with poverty, cultural challenges of assimilation, domestic abuse at home, and bullying at school. He sought out a community that might provide him protection and acceptance.

Unfortunately, that community included older men who did not have his best interests at heart. At the age of 16, Simon participated in a home invasion robbery with five other teenagers that was orchestrated by one of these men. One of the teens sexually assaulted a woman upstairs in the house. Simon was not aware or had any knowledge of this sexual assault. He didn’t help facilitate it or condone what happened. But for being present in the house, Simon was sentenced to 27 years for robbery and mandated to a lifetime register as a sex offender for the crime his co-defendant committed.

While in prison, he obtained his GED, completed and facilitated rehabilitation programs, and through The Last Mile, a coding program inside San Quentin, learned how to code.. In 2016, Simon was granted parole after serving 21 years in state prison. Upon release he was picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be detained in ICE detention and processed for deportation. Simon spent one year inside ICE detention.

The twisted combination of our criminal justice and immigration systems dehumanize people like Simon, who strive to grow and learn from their actions, only to be punished for their circumstances.

After 22 years of incarceration and detention, Simon finally reunited with his family and has built a loving community around him. He currently works as a full-time software engineer at a tech-startup. He supports other formerly incarcerated individuals with the Asian Prisoner Support Committee and frequently volunteers to pass out food to homeless communities in San Francisco and Oakland.

Yet, even as Simon works to improve the lives of those around him, the deportation order and label as a lifetime sex offender prevent Simon from truly being free and active in his community. Even the judge who sentenced him knows this is an injustice.

Governor Newsom can stop this deportation risk and remove this unjust label by granting a pardon to Simon. Simon already served his time. He has committed himself to uplifting his community. He deserves to be recognized for who he is now, not what he did when he was 16 years old.

Sign the petition: Tell Governor Newsom to pardon Simon and keep him home!