Three U.S. senators are imploring the secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to reopen a case for a military veteran who was deported over a marijuana conviction.<\/p>\n
In a letter sent to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday, the senators said that the deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was at odds with the nature of the conviction, Supreme Court precedent and the principles of the Biden administration. They asked to official to \u201cgrant him humanitarian parole so that he can return to the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been more than 20 years since Navy veteran Howard Bailey was arrested after a package containing marijuana was sent to his house for a friend and he pled guilty, on the advice of counsel. He disclosed the conviction when later applying for citizenship, and ICE used that single cannabis offense as basis to initiate a deportation proceeding.<\/p>\n
In 2017, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) issued a pardon for Bailey \u201cin light of his service to the U.S. Navy and the increasing decriminalization of marijuana nationwide,\u201d the letter from Sens. Alex Padilla (D-CA), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Mark Warner (D-VA) says.<\/p>\n
Since then, Virginia legalized marijuana for adult use, and that law took effect on Thursday<\/a>. Bailey, who currently resides in Jamaica, told The Washington Post that he\u2019s not jaded by the policy disconnect and wants people to benefit from the reform.<\/p>\n \u201cTo see somebody smile, to see somebody have a burden lifted, that\u2019s a good thing,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything there that will help me.\u201d<\/p>\n He reflected on the decades-old arrest, saying<\/a> \u201cICE grabbed me and didn\u2019t care that my 11-year-old daughter came out screaming and crying. My wife begged them to let her give me pants to wear before they took me away since I was in my pajama shorts.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter from the senators continues<\/a>: \u201cThe Biden administration has committed to honoring family unity and redressing racial injustices where possible. Returning Mr. Bailey to the U.S., in light of his overwhelming positive equities and the injustice of his deportation, honors these priorities and is a small step toward restoring humanity to the U.S. immigration system.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe urge you to join his motion to reopen his immigration proceedings and grant his application for humanitarian parole,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n In a recent, House-approve spending bill<\/a> that allocates fiscal year 2022 funding for DHS, there\u2019s a provision that would prevent its component agencies from denying any person immigration benefits or protections, or penalizing them in an application, simply because they\u2019ve admitted to using cannabis or were convicted of a low-level marijuana offense.<\/p>\n According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a person who admits to using cannabis\u2014even in compliance with state law\u2014is morally unfit for citizenship. The agency\u00a0clarified that position in a 2019 memo<\/a>, adding that employment in a state-legal marijuana market is another factor that could impact a person\u2019s immigration status.<\/p>\n Standalone legislation\u00a0has been introduced this session<\/a>\u00a0to resolve the problem, but it has yet to be acted on.<\/p>\n The new letter further explains that DHS issued a memo in May that specifically encourages ICE attorneys to join motions to reopen immigration cases under circumstances where \u201can individual is eligible for relief under the law and merits relief as a matter of discretion.\u201d Such is clearly the case with Bailey, they said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the Secretary of Homeland Security, you have the authority under current law to grant humanitarian parole for cases like Mr. Bailey\u2019s where urgent humanitarian considerations and significant public benefit apply,\u201d the senators wrote.<\/p>\n Read the letter to DHS on the marijuana immigration case below:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n DHS marijuana immigration l\u2026<\/a> by Marijuana Moment<\/a><\/p>\n Members Of Congress Should Visit Marijuana Businesses Together To Reduce Partisanship, House Committee Witness Testifies<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Senators Urge Biden Administration To Help Navy Veteran Deported For Marijuana<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Three U.S. senators are imploring the secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to reopen a case for a military veteran who was deported over a marijuana conviction. In a letter sent to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday, the senators said that the deportation by Immigration and Customs EnforcementContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48639"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48639"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48640,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48639\/revisions\/48640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Senators Urge Biden Administration To Help Navy Veteran Deported For Marijuana<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"