Spitzer Grants Pardon To Illegal Alien

ALBANY— Gov. Eliot Spitzer ignored requests for executive clemency from scores of New York residents, some receiving unjust sentences under the Rockefeller Drug laws while others were convicted under extreme mitigating circumstances.

Instead, he granted a full and unconditional pardon to an illegal alien to prevent his deportation.

Spitzer seems to have a thing for illegal aliens, proposing this fall to give them driver’s licenses. One day after a Siena College poll indicated that 70 percent of New Yorkers opposed his license plan and numerous lawsuits were filed to prevent the implementation of such his proposal, Spitzer shelved the plan.


On Friday, Spitzer pardoned Frederick Lake, a native of Jamaica who served a six-year sentence after a 1991 conviction for first-degree robbery. Lake has been living in Brooklyn with his wife and sons since 1997.

Lake, who entered the United States legally in 1987, faces deportation under a federal statute that mandates the removal of a lawful resident alien who has been convicted of an aggravated felony. However, the federal statute explicitly allows a Governor to prevent the deportation by granting the alien a full and unconditional pardon.

“Mr. Lake has fully served the sentence imposed upon him for his robbery conviction,â€