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For months, President Donald Trump has railed against Latin American narcoterrorists flooding the United States with 鈥渓ethal poison.鈥� He has used the scourge of drug trafficking as a rationale for dozens of military strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, which have left more than .
Last month, Trump cheered a military assault by U.S. forces that captured Venezuelan President Nicol谩s Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and brought them to the U.S. to face charges related to cocaine trafficking. Maduro, , led a 鈥渧icious cartel鈥� that 鈥渇looded our nation with lethal poison responsible for the deaths of countless Americans.鈥�
But when it comes to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hern谩ndez, who was tried and convicted in the U.S. in 2024 and in prison for taking bribes and allowing traffickers to export more than 400 tons of cocaine to the U.S., Trump has taken a decidedly softer tone.
Hern谩ndez, he said, has been 鈥渢reated very harshly and unfairly鈥� 鈥� so unfairly that on Dec. 1, Trump pardoned the former president after he served less than four of those 45 years.
But the federal government鈥檚 magnanimity did not end there. On the day he was to be released, records show, Hern谩ndez had an immigration detainer 鈥� a request for law enforcement agencies to hold noncitizens for pickup by Immigration and Customs Enforcement 鈥� in place.
Here, too, the Trump鈥檚 administration鈥檚 treatment of Hern谩ndez differed from its public objectives. Other noncitizens caught up in recent immigration sweeps 鈥� the of whom 鈥� have faced swift efforts to deport them, even to countries where they may face threats. But in Hern谩ndez鈥檚 case, the Federal Bureau of Prisons scrambled to get his detainer removed so he could walk free.
And Hern谩ndez did not just walk out of the prison. Despite persistent , prison officials paid a specialized tactical team overtime to drive Hern谩ndez from a high-security facility in West Virginia to the famed five-star Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City, according to records and three people familiar with the situation. Before he left, Hern谩ndez was allowed to use the captain鈥檚 government phone to talk to the federal prison system鈥檚 deputy director, Joshua Smith, who was convicted in a drug trafficking conspiracy before in 2021.
鈥淭he [prisons bureau] administration rolled out the red carpet for him,鈥� said Joe Rojas, a retired prison worker and former union leader who has been speaking to the media on behalf of staff who fear reprisals for doing so since bureau leaders stopped recognizing the union last year. 鈥淭he staff are disgusted.鈥�
Renato Stabile, the court-appointed lawyer representing Hern谩ndez 鈥� who has 鈥� said his client鈥檚 treatment was appropriate.
鈥淚t would be particularly cruel to grant somebody a pardon and have them released from prison 鈥� only to have them immediately shipped back to a place like Honduras where they would鈥檝e immediately arrested him or he would鈥檝e been killed on sight by criminal elements that wanted to do him harm,鈥� Stabile told ProPublica. Through his attorney, Hern谩ndez declined to comment.
ICE referred all questions to the White House, which responded with a link to a November announcing the President鈥檚 intent to pardon Hern谩ndez. Smith didn鈥檛 respond to an emailed request for comment. A BOP spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the bureau does not discuss conditions of confinement or security procedures and that employee standards of conduct prohibit staff from giving any prisoners preferential treatment. 鈥淰iolators may be subject to disciplinary actions, including removal from federal service and criminal prosecution,鈥� the statement said.
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The investigation that ultimately ensnared Hern谩ndez stretched across several U.S. presidencies. Despite looming legal trouble stateside and widespread in his country, Hern谩ndez 鈥� often known by his initials, JOH 鈥� was seen as a under the Obama and first Trump administrations, ostensibly because of his apparent willingness to help tackle drug trafficking and migration issues.
In 2012, as president of Honduras鈥� National Congress, he famously pushed through a allowing for the extradition of accused criminals to the U.S. 鈥� a reform that his attorney pointed out was ironically later used to extradite him.
But in 2018, less than halfway through Hern谩ndez鈥檚 second term as president, the , former Honduran congressman Tony Hern谩ndez, in Miami for a series of weapons and drug trafficking charges. A jury found him guilty the following year at a Manhattan federal trial in which Emil Bove 鈥� the federal prosecutor who would later become Trump鈥檚 personal defense lawyer 鈥� gave a replete with allegations implicating the Honduran president in criminal schemes. (Bove could not be reached for comment.)
Although the sprawling criminal case focused on narcotrafficking concerns, Juan Orlando Hern谩ndez鈥檚 political career was fraught in other ways. Dana Frank, a University of California, Santa Cruz history professor, described him as a 鈥渞epressive criminal on multiple fronts.鈥�
While in congress in 2012, in , she said. Then, he 鈥渋n complete ,鈥� she said. Amid the resulting protests, security forces shot and killed at least 16 people, including two children, among other human rights abuses, . Hern谩ndez has said little publicly, but his government told the U.N. it would look into those cases. that it has an 鈥渦nwavering commitment to democracy and freedom.鈥�
Weeks after Hern谩ndez left office in 2022, he was arrested at his home in Honduras and extradited to the U.S. to face drug trafficking and weapons charges. he funded his political career with millions of dollars he received from 鈥渧iolent drug-trafficking organizations鈥� in exchange for allowing them to 鈥渕ove mountains of cocaine鈥� out of the country.
Stabile told ProPublica the case against his client was always a weak one, relying heavily on the word of unreliable drug traffickers with outlandish stories and little in the way of hard evidence.
Still, the government鈥檚 case was enough to convince a jury to convict Hern谩ndez after , and in June 2024 to 45 years in federal prison. Afterward, Stabile and his client began working on , which at that point appeared to be Hern谩ndez鈥檚 only shot at freedom.
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Early last year, prison officials transferred Hern谩ndez out of the federal detention center in Brooklyn, which largely holds , and sent him to the high-security Hazelton penitentiary in West Virginia. Dubbed 鈥淢isery Mountain,鈥� the notoriously violent prison is the same facility where mob boss James 鈥淲hitey鈥� Bulger was beaten to death in his cell hours after his arrival in 2018.
Yet prison sources said Hern谩ndez seemed to do his time quietly, eventually landing in the coveted housing unit set aside for a used to treat drug addiction, mental illness and 鈥渃riminal thinking errors.鈥�
But after Trump returned to office last year, a much quicker route to freedom suddenly seemed possible: a pardon.
Like Trump, Hern谩ndez was a member of his country鈥檚 right-wing party. And, like Trump, he believed he鈥檇 been targeted by leftist forces. He also had other reasons to be hopeful.
During his time in office, Hern谩ndez had championed the creation of special economic zones that could set their own taxes and regulations, a move that benefitted the Trump-aligned Silicon Valley titans who invested in them, including . But the law was repealed by his successor, Libre member Xiomara Castro, putting plans for the zones in jeopardy. (Andreessen responded to a request for comment with a link to a disavowing any involvement in the pardon. Thiel could not be reached for comment, though he has previously said .)
Longtime political operative Roger Stone also suggested co-authored with conservative activist Shane Trejo in January 2025 that pardoning Hern谩ndez could have political benefits for Trump. In the post, Trejo and Stone 鈥� who was pardoned by Trump five years ago after he was convicted of obstructing a congressional investigation into Russian election interference 鈥� urged the president to 鈥渃rush socialism and save a freedom city in Honduras鈥� with a 鈥渨ell-timed pardon鈥� that 鈥渃ould be the final death blow to [Xiomara] Castro鈥� in the 2025 elections.
Eventually, Stone took on a more direct role in advocating for clemency when he gave Trump a Hern谩ndez had written to the U.S. president, asking for a pardon and making the case that his conviction was a 鈥減olitical persecution鈥� by the Biden administration. In a text message with ProPublica, Stone said he had received the letter from a journalist who鈥檇 gotten it from the family. He emphasized repeatedly that he was not compensated for his involvement.
鈥淚 read the letter and then did my own research and elected to send the letter to President Trump,鈥� Stone wrote. 鈥淚 actually had no contact with JOH or anyone in his family until after the pardon.鈥�
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On Nov. 28, two days before the Honduran presidential election, Trump announced his intent to pardon Hern谩ndez. Stabile said he didn鈥檛 learn the news until Ana Garc铆a Car铆as, the former president鈥檚 wife, called him in tears:
鈥淗e鈥檚 letting him out! Trump鈥檚 pardoning Juan Orlando!鈥�
She sent Stabile a screenshot from , where Trump had written that he would grant him a 鈥淔ull and Complete Pardon.鈥�
The decision met with bipartisan backlash from lawmakers. Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, 鈥渄isgusting and incomprehensible,鈥� while Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, 鈥渉orrible optics.鈥�
In his post, Trump also urged Hondurans to vote for the National Party candidate, Nasry 鈥淭ito鈥� Asfura, , adding what to observers of Latin American politics was a thinly veiled threat: If Asfura did not win, Trump said, the U.S. would 鈥渘ot be throwing good money after bad鈥� in support of Honduras.
The message was obvious, experts said. 鈥淭hat pardon was a clear green light for the National Party to manipulate the vote,鈥� one former high-ranking U.S. diplomat told ProPublica.
In the end, Asfura narrowly edged out center-right candidate Salvador Nasralla and handily defeated the incumbent Libre party. But the count was plagued by delays, and , and Nasralla later formally .
On Dec. 1 鈥� while the votes were still being counted in Honduras 鈥� again on Truth Social in support of Asfura. 鈥淟ooks like Honduras is trying to change the results of their Presidential Election. If they do, there will be hell to pay!鈥� The former president鈥檚 pardon officially went through that same day.
That evening at Hazelton, after the prisoners had already been fed dinner, corrections officers showed up at the housing unit to get Hern谩ndez. Smith, the bureau鈥檚 deputy director, wanted to speak with him. The newly pardoned inmate was escorted to the captain鈥檚 office, where he used the captain鈥檚 phone to talk to Smith, his fellow pardon recipient, according to a source familiar with the situation. The move shocked current and former prison staff.
Hern谩ndez was also allowed to talk with his family, who then phoned Stabile and told him the good news. Within the hour, Stabile said, he got a call from Smith, inquiring about a release plan.
鈥淚鈥檓 in Manhattan and he鈥檚 in West Virginia,鈥� Stabile told Smith. 鈥淚t would take me six hours to come pick him up. Can you transport him?鈥�
Because most inmate releases are done during the daytime, prison staff had to be called back in to handle the paperwork and logistics of freeing an inmate. But there was a problem: Hern谩ndez had an immigration hold.
When noncitizens are convicted of crimes in the U.S., immigration officials routinely sign detainers asking prisons and jails to turn them over to ICE for possible deportation proceedings following their release date. In Hern谩ndez鈥檚 case, records show immigration agents sent the prison notice of a detainer in February 2025, two months after he was sentenced in court.
For several hours on the night of his release, prison officials scrambled to get the detainer removed so he could walk free, according to several sources familiar with the situation.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely special treatment. That鈥檚 not normally the way it goes,鈥� said Lena Graber, a senior staff attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. 鈥淢ost people with drug convictions would never get their ICE detainer removed just because the conviction was pardoned.鈥�
Records show immigration officials lifted the detainer on Hern谩ndez just after 11 p.m.
Typically, according to a source familiar with the situation, prisoners who are released from Hazelton when there鈥檚 inclement weather or when it鈥檚 too late in the day to catch a plane or bus home are put up at the Microtel Inn and Suites at the bottom of the hill. It鈥檚 a two-star hotel where a room costs $69 per night. In the morning, they鈥檙e given a ticket and sent on their way.
But for Hern谩ndez, prison officials activated a four-man tactical team, paying at least three of them overtime to drive him to the luxury hotel in Manhattan, according to government records and law enforcement sources. A standard room there costs more than $1,000 per night. Stabile declined to comment on where Hern谩ndez stayed but said the government did not pay for it.
It was another move that stunned prisons bureau staff. One official called it 鈥渁bsolutely fucking nuts,鈥� adding, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 even think that鈥檚 ever been done, not just for a pardoned inmate but for anyone who鈥檚 been released.鈥� Another agreed that it was unprecedented: 鈥淯sually, they get a shitty bus ride or a cheap plane ticket. They don鈥檛 get the carpet rolled out for them.鈥�
As of now, the former president鈥檚 whereabouts are unknown. A few days after his release, Hern谩ndez that he had 鈥渘o intention of returning to Honduras鈥� immediately because he and his family would be in 鈥済rave danger given the evident persecution and the weaponization of justice against me.鈥�
If Hern谩ndez is in the U.S., it鈥檚 unclear what his immigration status is.
Meanwhile, Honduran officials have for Hern谩ndez鈥檚 arrest over years-old fraud allegations and, in a social media post, asked Interpol and other international allies to honor it. But a law enforcement official familiar with the situation told ProPublica there is currently no pending Interpol red notice asking for law enforcement to detain him. The only request the network received to issue such a notice, the official said, was declined while Hern谩ndez was still in prison.
