Relief and Joy as Volunteers Help Freed Jan. 6 Prisoners Get Home

Citizen groups sprang into action after Trump issued the pardons and commutations he had promised. Operation Airlift was launched.

Illustration by The Epoch Times, Courtesy of Claude Heavin, Courtesy of Shelley Freeman, Courtesy of Nicky Long, Courtesy of Diane Heavin

With a stroke of the presidential pen, people charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach were free. Many had no idea how they would get home.

After President Donald Trump signed pardons and commutations on Jan. 20, an estimated 300 people were released from 75 prisons in 35 states, according to Gary Heavin, a Texas philanthropist who raised funds for an operation to meet each of the prisoners and help them get back home.