President Trump Pardons Honduran Ex-President Convicted in Major Drug Trafficking
Juan Orlando Hernández was accused of receiving millions in bribes and partnering with cocaine traffickers. He was convicted in Manhattan in 2024 and sentenced to 45 years in prison.
So let me get this straight.
Former Attorney General Merrick Garland said this about the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández:
As president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández abused his power to support one of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world, and the people of Honduras and the United States bore the consequences.
And Todd Robinson, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, adds the kicker:
We blow up alleged drug boats in the Caribbean but pardon actually convicted drug traffickers in the U.S. Someone help me make sense of this.
This is where we are now as a nation: We kill first when it’s poor fishermen, unknown boat crews, or people without a voice… and forgive later when the wrongdoer is powerful, connected, or politically useful.
This isn’t justice. This isn’t law enforcement. This is the collapse of moral and legal logic.
How do you justify pardoning a man convicted—in our own courts—of flooding our country with cocaine, while blowing up boats based only on unverified allegations?
You can’t. Not if you still believe in the Rule of Law. Not if you still believe in constitutional policing.
Not if you still believe that no one—no president, no politician, no foreign leader—is above the law.
Why This Matters for Local Policing
People sometimes think these high-level abuses of power are “far away” and don’t affect the police officer on the street. They’re wrong.
When political leaders bend the law for allies and weaponize it against the powerless, they send a dangerous message downward:
— Laws apply only when convenient.
— Facts matter only when politically useful.
— Accountability is optional.
And believe me—local police officers should hear that loud and clear.
Because how can a local police chief ask citizens to respect the law when national leaders don’t?
How can officers build trust when people see presidential pardons for drug kingpins and drone strikes on alleged suspects? How can we tell people to follow due process when we abandon it at the federal level?
You cannot have constitutional policing from the bottom up when the top treats the law like a weapon instead of a restraint.
Local policing depends on just one thing: community trust. And community trust depends on one thing: the Rule of Law applying equally—to the fishermen in a small boat and to the powerful politician in a suit.
The Rule of Law Isn’t Optional in a Democracy!
If Americans want safe communities, effective policing, and a functioning justice system, then we all—citizens, police, and leaders—must commit to the same principle:
— The law must restrain the powerful, protect the vulnerable, and apply to everyone. Without exception.
We lose that, and we lose everything. Because once justice becomes selective, policing becomes impossible.
And a society that abandons the Rule of Law is not a democracy anymore. It’s simply a stage where the strongest actor wins.
Improving Police: A Necessary Conversation 