UPDATE: On Monday, Mindy St. Martin received a letter from Maine's Governor Paul R. LePage denying her husband, Lexius's, request for a pardon that wold have brought him back to the U.S. from Haiti. Mindy St. Martin says she will continue to work to bring her husband home to her and their three children. The St. Martins can make a request a pardon again in one year.
WATERVILLE (NEWS CENTER Maine) — A Waterville man who was deported to Haiti six months ago is hoping a pardon board will pave the way for him to come home.
The board in Augusta heard the case of Lexius St. Martin on Thursday.
St. Martin was living in Waterville with his wife and kids when immigration agents arrested him. He grew up in the U.S., graduated high school, but got mixed up with the wrong crowd. He went to jail in 2007 for a drug trafficking charge and was given a final removal order in 2010.
An earthquake in Haiti gave immigrants from that nation temporary protection status, but President Trump has since revoked that TPS status for Haitian immigrants.
St. Martin was ultimately deported back to his home country of Haiti – a country he left as a child.
He has been there ever since.
The board heard from St. Martin’s wife Mindy, his sister Katia and his attorney Evan Fisher. By phone, the board also heard St. Martin's plead for a pardon so that he can come back to Maine and his family.
One board member asked St. Martin about the conditions in Haiti.
"Right now I don't have much of a life," St. Martin said. "Half the time there is no power. Phone communication with my wife and kids is limited, sometimes we go days without talking to them. Food, I can barely eat because my system is not used to it."
St. Martin told the board members he made a mistake a long time ago, that he wants to come home and continue to provide for his wife and children. He also told them he'll take whatever steps he needs to make that happen.
Fisher said his client made a mistake – one nonviolent crime in his 25-year history in the U.S.
He turned his life around, started a family, started a successful business, bought a house, paid taxes," Fisher said. "It's the American dream that he went after."
Fisher is hoping Maine's governor will show forgiveness.
St. Martin’s wife Mindy couldn’t agree more. She was nervous but hopeful for herself and for her children who just miss their dad.
"I always remind them, we will all be together as a family," she said. "We're a strong family."
If the board grants the pardon it then goes to Gov. Paul LePage, who would then review the recommendation and make the final decision.