Quote:Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has denied clemency for an Army veteran and green card holder with a felony drug conviction, according to both the man's lawyer and his mother, who said she got the news in a letter from the governor's office Wednesday.


Advocates had hoped a pardon from the governor would encourage the government to grant citizenship to Miguel Perez Jr., retroactive to when he joined the military in 2001. His attorney, Chris Bergin, applied for citizenship on Perez's behalf in July.

That retroactive application for citizenship is the only pathway left for Perez, 39, after a three-judge panel for the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request for relief under the United Nations Convention against Torture, a protection that resembles asylum. He and human rights advocates believe his life would be in danger if he were sent back to Mexico, where he hasn't lived since age 8.

Bergin and Perez's mother, Esperanza Montes Perez, said Rauner turned down the clemency request. Rauner's office did not respond to questions on the matter.

But in the letter, the office said the family could file a new petition after Jan. 31, 2019. "Although the (Prisoner Review Board) and the governor do not disclose the reasoning behind a decision to grant or deny clemency, please know that we did not make the decision lightly," the letter said.