Clemency advocates deliver petition with 2M signatures to DOJ

Family members of incarcerated individuals delivered more than 2 million signatures to the Department of Justice Tuesday urging President Obama and his administration to accelerate his rate of clemencies and bring more people home in time for the holidays. 

Democratic political commentator Van Jones was among advocates Tuesday standing with signs that read “There is nothing more urgent than freedom” at the event organized by #Cut50’s #ClemencyNow campaign.   

{mosads}“The Obama administration has committed itself to more clemencies than any other administration in American history, and yet there is more work [that] needs to be done,” Jones said.

“There are people who deserve to come home. There are families who have been broken apart for reasons that make no sense to anybody who hears the facts of the case, and we cannot let this injustice stand while there is still time on the clock.”

Obama has commuted the sentences of 944 people, more than the last 11 presidents combined.

But President-elect Donald Trump’s stunning upset over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in last week’s election has advocates and family members fearful of the future.

There’s no guarantee Trump, who called himself the “law and order candidate” during his campaign, will carry on Obama’s clemency initiative.

“This was a joyful event when I was told I was going to be able to come here, but I’ll be honest with the passing of the guard, the passing of the torch from President Obama to Trump, I feel more like I’m at a funeral and that the death is going to be clemency,” said Jason Hernandez, one of the first inmates granted clemency by Obama in 2013.

“I love the president like a father and I can’t thank him enough for what he’s done for me and my family,” Hernandez later added. “But … President, you’ve got to do more. These families are dependent on you.”

Wyn Hornbuckle, deputy director of public affairs at the Department of Justice, came out and quickly received the thumb drive filled with signatures.