A U.S. military veteran who was deported to Jamaica over a marijuana conviction has been allowed to return to the country following a concerted push for relief by members of Congress.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been more than 20 years since Navy veteran Howard Bailey was arrested after a package containing cannabis 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 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) used that single marijuana offense as basis to initiate a deportation proceeding.<\/p>\n
Sens. Alex Padilla (D-CA), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Mark Warner (D-VA) last month sent a letter to the head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)<\/a> requesting that he reopen the case.<\/p>\n Thirty members of the Congressional Black Caucus separately urged the Biden administration to reopen certain deportation cases<\/a>, including those involving cannabis such as Bailey\u2019s.<\/p>\n Bailey \u201cwas prepared to pay the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of the United States of America,\u201d Padilla said on Monday. \u201cThankfully, he\u2019s not paid the ultimate sacrifice\u2014but through that service we\u2019ve known that he deserved better and others deserve better than their treatment in the current immigration system.\u201d<\/p>\n Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) issued a pardon for the veteran in 2017, and now President Joe Biden\u2019s administration is being thanked for taking action on pleas for further relief enabling the veteran to return home.<\/p>\n I\u2019m relieved that our calls to bring U.S. Navy veteran Howard Bailey home were heard by @POTUS<\/a> and that he is now reunited with his family.<\/p>\n We must continue to undo the harmful immigration policies that are hurting our veterans, service members, and their families. https:\/\/t.co\/ITnJb4FkSy<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Senator Alex Padilla (@SenAlexPadilla) August 25, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cI\u2019m relieved that our calls to bring U.S. Navy veteran Howard Bailey home were heard by [Biden] and that he is now reunited with his family,\u201d Padilla said. \u201cWe must continue to undo the harmful immigration policies that are hurting our veterans, service members, and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) and the Immigrant Defense Project (IDP) helped lead the push to reunite Bailey with his family.<\/p>\n Please join us for a short \u201cWelcome Home Briefing\u201d TODAY at 1 p.m. EST to welcome home deported veteran Howard Bailey who returned to the U.S. this week after over a decade of exile in Jamaica. Register here: https:\/\/t.co\/ixJSWu3uKW<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/0ODdxRMjl6<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 National Immigrant Justice Center (@NIJC) August 30, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cEleven years ago I went to bed with my family and woke up to be snatched away from my home and family\u2014dragged out by ICE officers while my children watched,\u201d Bailey said<\/a> in a press release. \u201cWhile I fought my case for two years in immigration detention someone inside said to me, \u2018hey man\u2014here, hope is dead. What are you hoping for?\u2019 These past 11 years I thought he was right, but today I am home and I feel hope is alive again after so long.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was deported, my family\u2019s entire lives went down the drain. I was the main provider and they were left financially drained\u2014they could barely survive,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe emotional devastation gripped my mother, my siblings, my children\u2014my deportation was a negative chain effect for every single person in my family.\u201d<\/p>\n Bailey also testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing<\/a> on immigration policy in June, saying that \u201cthis is not something I wish on anyone\u2014I would never want to live and see any other family go through what my family went through.\u201d<\/p>\n Advocates have celebrated Bailey\u2019s return, but they\u2019ve also emphasized that the case illustrates the need for further relief in the immigration system.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile momentous, Howard\u2019s homecoming should not be an exception in the U.S. immigration system,\u201d Nayna Gupta, associate director of policy at NIJC, said. \u201cWe urge the Biden administration to follow through on its promises to honor family unity and redress racial injustice by creating a centralized process based on existing laws to review the cases of all unjustly deported individuals so that others like Howard have a meaningful chance to come home.\u201d<\/p>\n Jane Shim, senior policy attorney at IDP, said Bailey\u2019s case \u201cexemplifies how the entanglement of the criminal legal and immigration systems devastates communities of color.\u201d<\/p>\n In a\u00a0recent, House-approved spending bill<\/a>\u00a0that 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 DHS did issue 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<\/p>\n Ohio Marijuana Activists Cleared To Collect Signatures For 2022 Legalization Ballot Initiative<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post U.S. Military Veteran Deported Over Marijuana Returns Home Following Congressional Push On Biden Administration<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A U.S. military veteran who was deported to Jamaica over a marijuana conviction has been allowed to return to the country following a concerted push for relief by members of Congress. It\u2019s been more than 20 years since Navy veteran Howard Bailey was arrested after a package containing cannabis wasContinue 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\/49713"}],"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=49713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49714,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49713\/revisions\/49714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: U.S. Military Veteran Deported Over Marijuana Returns Home Following Congressional Push On Biden Administration<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"