Wasilla:US President Donald Trump granted pardons to two Alaska diesel mechanics during a campaign rally on Tuesday. The mechanics, Zachary Czubak and Patrick Fleming, were invited onstage to sign their clemency documents.

According to Anadolu Agency, the pardons were issued in response to what Trump described as unfair federal enforcement under former US President Joe Biden. The mechanics were initially facing up to 10 years in jail for modifying engines, which Trump criticized as unjust given the challenges of operating vehicles in extreme northern cold.

Czubak and Fleming, co-owners of Arm Rippin Toys in Anchorage, had pleaded guilty in 2022 along with their partner, Michael Wayne Hanzuk, to conspiracy charges related to violating the Clean Air Act. Prosecutors contended that between July 2019 and September 2020, the business had illegally removed emissions-control hardware and tampered with monitoring equipment on at least 37 diesel trucks.

"This means the world to me," Fleming expressed onstage, emphasizing their intent to help drivers through their actions.

The pardons come in the wake of a policy shift by the US Justice Department, which announced in January that it would no longer pursue criminal charges for diesel defeat-device tampering, instead limiting enforcement to civil penalties.