While heading to the National Convention of the Libertarian Party in 2024, President Donald Trump promised to free Ross Ulbricht, a former technological entrepreneur imprisoned to create a dark Silk Road website that was used by drug traffickers. “If you vote for me, the first day I will travel Ross Ulbricht’s sentence,” Trump said, causing applause.
President Donald Trump has asked for a long time to increase war on drugs in the United States against Mexican posters and wants harder sanctions for dealers who sell fentanyl and other street drugs in US communities. “I am ready for it, the death penalty, if it deals with drugs,” Trump said, duration of a meeting with state governors in February, where these traffickers are treated with a “weak on the wrist.”
But despite its tough rhetoric, Trump has caused controversy by Pardonon, a growing number of condemned drug traffickers, including this week’s movement to grant clemency to Larry Hoover, who was the life of the life of the crime that spent the disciples of gangster based in Chicago.
The first months of his second mandate have already lasted, Trump has granted Clemence to at least eight people convicted of federal drug positions. Some, including Hoover, have extensive criminal records that involve violence and firearms charges.
“There are many mixed messages and mixed signs. [from the White House] What creates a type of chaos and uncertainty, “said Jeffrey Singer, drug policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a group of libertarian experts.
Larry Hoover’s case and Gangster’s disciples
Ron Safer, a former American prosecutor in Chicago who helped process the members of the disciples of the gangster duration of the 1990s, said he was shocked and dismayed by Trump’s decision to commute Hoover’s sentence.
He pointed out that the Hoover gang was one of the largest and largest drug unions in the United States, which operated in 35 states according to the United States Department of Justice. Hoover himself was convicted of state and federal positions, including the murder and use of a firearm while trafficked drugs.
“Larry Hoover was the head of the drug operation perhaps more pernicious and efficient in the United States,” Safer said. “They sold more than 100 million dollars of drugs a year only in the city of Chicago. They were responsible for innumerable murders. They supported their drug territories with ruthless violence.”
Hoover was imprisoned for the first time in 1973 after being convicted of murder. In the 1990s he was convicted of federal positions linked to his role leading the disciples of the Gangster.
Hoover is now expected to be transferred from a federal Supermax prison to a state correctional center in Illinois, where he will remain behind bars, for now, due to the conviction for murder at the state level. Hoover has sought clemency of Illinois officials before his latest probation offer was rejected wide by a state review board in December 2022.
But a White House spokesman, who comments on a history because he was authorized to speak publicly, told NPR that the administration expects Illinois officials to continue federal government leadership by releasing Hoover.
“There are one leg many defenders who say time [Hoover] Served in prison was adequate, “said the spokesman.
In the midst of calls for difficult punishments, clemency for high -level drug traffickers
Trump’s clemency for Hoover and other drug criminals follows a pattern that began his first mandate in the White House. While promising a hard action against drug traffickers, Trump forgave or commuted sentences of at least thirteen people convicted of federal drug crimes between 2017 and 2021, including high -level dealers linked to violence or operating important traffic.
In 2020, the Trump administration also released a senior Mexican military official arrested by the US Drug Control Administration. UU. In Los Angeles for positions that helped the posters of the posters to the United States under the pressure of the Government of Mexico, the officials of the Trump Department of Justice abandoned the prosecution of General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda.
In the first month of his second term, Trump also forgave Ross Ulbricht, a former technological entrepreneur who fulfilled a mandate of life in federal prison for creating Silk Road, a dark web web site, an important duct for drug traffickers.
“Ulbricht also demonstrated a willingness to use violence to protect his criminal company and the anonymity of its users, requesting six murders for rent in relation to the operation of the site, although there is no evidence that these murders really were carried out,” federal prosecutors said in a statement after Ulbricht was sentence in 2015.
When commenting on the background, the White House spokesman said there is no contradiction between Trump’s hard rhetoric for those who stop and their decisions to free some people involved in drug trafficking.
“The punishment does not always fit the crime,” said the spokesman. “The president is open to see if these people are worthy of redemption.”
Some critics of the war against drugs in the United States offered cautious praise about the use of Trump or the presidential authority to free drug criminals.
“The potential decision of President Trump to grant clemency to people with drug sentences offers crucial lifeguards for those affected and the claims they have known for a long time: drug criminalization is intentive and armed,” Saint sent NPR.
But Frederique is critical of Trump’s broader position on drug policy. “These individual acts of clemency clearly contrast with the broader rhetoric of administration crimes and their continuous efforts to dismantle health services that save lives,” Frederique said.
Some see Trump’s forgives as “transactional”
Duration in his last days in office, President Joe Biden forgave thousands of criminals, many of them imprisoned for federal drug positions. Biden said the measure reflected his growing concern with the war on drugs.
“This action is an important step towards historical errors, correcting sentences and providing people deserving the opportunity to return to their families and communities after spending a lot of time after bars,” said Biden.
Drug policy experts interviewed by NPR said it is difficult to find a coherent philosophy behind the use of Trump’s clemency. According to the singer of the Cato Institute, Trump’s forgives often appear “transactional” and reflect the influence of powerful individuals.
“Heyctually promised in front of the convention of the Libertarian Party that if he were elected, he would forgive Ross Ulbricht. That was a promise that hoped to obtain the support of the libertarians,” said Singer. “It’s not as if there were an ideological thread crossed [Trump’s] Decisions. ”
Duration that appearance in the campaign in 2024, Trump openly linked his plan to travel Ulbricht’s sentence to his attempt by the White House. “If you vote for me, the first day I will travel Ross Ulbricht’s sentence to a time sentence,” Trump said, causing Ulbricht supporters applause.
Meanwhile, the launch of Larry Hoover was defended by the artist Ye, previously known as Kanye West, who thanked Trump this week on the social media platform X.
Duration in his first term, Trump forgave and released Alice Marie Johnson after the reality show shows Kim Kardashian asked for her launch. Johnson was sentenced in 1996 and sentenced to a life behind bars for his non -violent role as part of a Memphis, Tennessee and Cocaine traffic. Earlier this year, Trump appointed her to serve as her “sorry.”
In a publication on social networks, Johnson also praised the last round of pardons of the president.
“Today, 26 people deserving clemencies and pardons were granted. Each one repeats a story of redemption, rehabilitation and resilience,” Johnson said on platform X. “His second chance is a second chance in life.”