California Gov. Jerry Brown has pardoned five refugees from Cambodia and another immigrant from Honduras who faced the possibility of deportation because of their criminal convictions.

The pardons were among more than 250 clemency decisions announced by the governor on Christmas Eve.

According to Brown’s office, the five Cambodians entered the country when they were 5 or younger.

The pardons don’t automatically stop deportation proceedings, but they eliminate the state convictions on which federal authorities might base deportation decisions. That gives the men’s lawyers strong legal arguments before immigration judges to try to prevent their removal from the country.

Brown has a tradition of granting clemency requests on or near Christian holidays.

Brown has now issued 283 commutations and 1,332 pardons since 2011. That’s far more pardons than any California governor since at least the 1940s. He issued 404 pardons and one commutation during his first two terms as governor from 1975-1983.

This is expected to be Brown’s last round of clemency action as governor. But he has until he leaves office Jan. 7 to act.