Families of the #43Americans Call for Presidential Clemency, Citing a Pattern of Federal Overreach

NEW ORLEANS - Rezul -- NEW ORLEANS — November 2026 — Behind every federal case number is a family waiting at home. The families of the #43Americans, the mothers, fathers, spouses and children of 43 people they believe were failed by the federal justice system, are asking the president to grant clemency.

Many of their loved ones had no prior record. Some turned down short plea offers and were punished with decades for going to trial. Others were prosecuted over matters that civil courts or regulators had already resolved, or received sentences far beyond what the facts warranted. Most remain in federal prison, missing birthdays, graduations and holidays at home.

Among the cases:

- Glenn E. Diaz, 75, spent 35 years as a prosecutor in the St. Bernard Parish district attorney's office and built a steel company that employed more than 200 people. When Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, he helped rescue neighbors and nursing home residents, and he lost about $30 million. He went on to repay every lender in full. Before he was ever indicted, he settled his remaining loans for $1.61 million, and his family says the bank was secured by assets he had pledged and could not lose a dollar. At 72, with no criminal record, he was sentenced to 87 months. In October 2025, his son Troy died while Glenn was in prison. His family has recorded nine video appeals, posted on his case page.
- Elizabeth Hernandez, a nurse practitioner from Homestead, Florida, and mother of five with no prior record, found her calling at 21 at her father's hospital bedside, caring for him in the ten days before he died. She graduated at the top of her class while pregnant with her third child and went on to work in the emergency room of the same hospital where he had died. "Medicine was not a choice for me; it was a calling," she wrote. In 2021 the Justice Department offered her a plea that would have carried about three years. She refused, saying that signing it would mean stating something that was not true. She went to trial and received 20 years, the statutory maximum. She has now spent three years away from her five children.

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- Billy Joe "BJ" Taylor, a clinical laboratory owner from Lavaca, Arkansas, and father of six, took on the nation's biggest health insurance companies, challenging Blue Cross Blue Shield and writing two books about the industry, Medicareless and Double-crossed: A Case of the Blues. His family says that fight made him a target to be silenced. He was charged with 17 counts totaling $43,454.75. All 17 were dismissed, and no jury ever heard his case. The court refused to allow the three attorneys his family had retained, whom the prosecutor did not oppose, to represent him.
- Michael Castillero, an entrepreneur and father of two, took his children, Chase and Reese, to the school bus stop every morning. Now they will lose precious years with their father. In May 2022, 41 months before his trial, every account he and his wife Nikki held was frozen, though Nikki has never been charged with anything. To pay for his defense and keep the lights on, the family sold their cars, a property and their jewelry, down to Nikki's engagement ring. "That kills me inside every single day," he has said. A jury convicted him in 2025, and he was sentenced to 11 years, a year more than a co-defendant convicted on the same counts with an identical guideline calculation. The government has also moved to take the family home. He maintains his innocence, has appealed, and discussed his case on The Roger Stone Show.
- Chris and Erin Mazzei, California filmmakers and parents of four, pleaded guilty in the District of Hawaii. Their court filings state they had repaid about 84 percent of the loss, roughly $1.15 million, before sentencing, and could have repaid the rest from more than $1 million in equity in their own home, which the court did not let them use. Erin served 27 months. Chris received 36 months and was scheduled to report to federal prison on August 20, 2026. Because their sentences ran one after the other, their four children will have spent close to five years with a parent gone.

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The cases have drawn national attention. Forty-nine media appearances covering 21 of the people have aired on programs including Tucker Carlson, Jordan Peterson, Roger Stone, Real America's Voice, Diamond and Silk and BBC News.

Ed Rosenberg's article "43 Samples of Extreme Injustice" lays out the cases side by side.

The families are not asking anyone to take their word for it. Each case's charges, sentence, public sources and family videos are documented at 250pardons.net, along with links to every media appearance. Where facts have not been confirmed, the record says so.

They are asking the public, reporters and elected officials to read the records, watch the family videos, and remember that every sentence is also served by the people who love them. Share their stories using #43Americans.

About 250pardons.net
250pardons.net belongs to the families of the #43Americans, people they believe deserve presidential clemency. It documents each case with sourced public records, family videos and links to media coverage. Learn more at https://250pardons.net.

Media contact:
press@250pardons.net
https://250pardons.net