WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Representative Norma Torres introduced an amendment to a House appropriations bill to prohibit the Federal Bureau of Prisons from using taxpayer funds for special accommodations or transportation for pardoned convicted drug traffickers and child traffickers. The House Appropriations Committee voted against including the amendment in a proposed 2027 spending bill.
Rep. Torres plans to bring the amendment before the House Rules Committee for a floor vote. "There should never be preferential treatment for narco leaders," Torres said. "Taxpayer dollars should not be used to give convicted criminals special accommodations, lifted legal holds, or government-funded transportation. We should be enforcing the law, not handing out favors." Torres added, "I am not giving up. The American people deserve a government that enforces the law fairly and holds powerful criminals accountable, regardless of who pardons them."
In December, former President Donald Trump pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, who was sentenced to 45 years in prison for bribery and facilitating the export of more than 400 tons of cocaine to the United States while he was president of Honduras. Trump formally signed the pardon on December 1. A federal jury had convicted Hernández of drug trafficking charges in early 2024.
Hernández wrote a letter to Trump in November, describing his conviction as political persecution by the Biden administration. Trump announced his intention to pardon Hernández in November, two days before a Honduran presidential election. Following the pardon, court-appointed lawyer Renato Stabile filed a motion to vacate Hernández's judgment and dismiss the indictment. A federal court granted this motion after prosecutors declined to file a response.
On the day of his release, Hernández had an active immigration detainer requesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. Bureau officials processed administrative steps to remove this detainer. Prison officials authorized overtime pay for a four-person tactical team to transport Hernández from a high-security facility in West Virginia to a hotel in Manhattan. Stabile stated that the government did not pay for Hernández's hotel accommodations. Stabile said, "His client's treatment during the release process was appropriate, as he could have been arrested or killed had he been deported to his home country."
A Bureau spokesperson declined to comment on the proposed amendment. A spokesperson for the bureau previously stated that bureau standards of conduct prohibit staff from providing any prisoners preferential treatment. Hernández was arrested in Honduras in 2022 and extradited to the United States to face drug trafficking and weapons charges.