Spite and virtue signaling are the twin poles around which Democrat politics now revolves. So pardoning a deported criminal to spite Trump puts you in line for the White House.

Governor Cuomo has pardoned the Haitian man who was deported in 2017 from Rochester over a decade-old assault charge.

Last year, supporters of Reginald Castel came forward saying he had turned his life around since the conviction, but despite support from the community, Castel was deported to Haiti in September of 2017.

What did Castel do?

Castel was eligible to be deported because he pleaded guilty to first-degree assault, a felony, in 1999, after a dispute with his friend Reginald McQueen turned violent. Castel said that McQueen started chasing him with a knife and he shot him in self-defense. 

At the time, Castel was a permanent resident with a green card, having come to the United States with his mother at age 8. His public defender advised him to plead guilty to assault to avoid risking the lengthy prison sentence that could result from being found guilty in a trial. 

But it spites Trump. And that’s all that matters. Right?

Cuomo’s announcement was made with a rebuke of the Trump administration’s treatment of immigrants. “While President Trump shuts down the federal government over his obsession with keeping immigrants out, New York stands strong in our support for immigrant communities,” the governor said in a statement. 

And New York immigrant shooters.