ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) _ New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has pardoned two men who completed prison sentences and turned their lives around but faced threats to their U.S. residency from the convictions.
Cuomo says they deserve a second chance without fear of being separated from their families through deportation.’’
Pardoned is 62-year-old Antonio Argibay, a Cuban emigre and proprietor of a New York City-based architecture firm.
Convicted in 1979 of a drug sale, he graduated from college while in prison, earned a master’s degree while on parole and has been an architect for 30 years.
Also pardoned is 33-year-old Alvaro Khalil Cumberbatch of Queens. Convicted in 2003 of robbery, the Guyana native is the married father of two, has earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees and works with prison re-entry organizations, including the Fortune Society.
