Friend,
For decades, the drug war and deportation machine have worked to target, exclude, and punish noncitizens for minor drug offenses. Today, the Drug Policy Alliance and Human Rights Watch released a groundbreaking new report on immigration and the drug war.
The report found that thousands of people are being deported from the U.S. every year for drug offenses. And in many cases, these offenses are no longer even a crime under state law, such as marijuana possession.
Lawmakers’ failure to reform federal immigration law has allowed this cruelty to continue. It has fueled an increase in deportations, split families apart, disrupted communities, and terrorized non-citizens.
We hope you’ll read this critical report. Some of the key findings include:
- From 2002 to 2020, the U.S. government deported half a million people whose most serious criminal conviction was a drug offense. That's more than 2,400 people per month on average.
- More than 30% of deportations for drug offenses between 2002 and 2020 were due to drug use or possession. Marijuana use or possession was used as the reason to deport over 47,000 of those people.
- There are significant racial disparities in the imposition of immigration penalties. More than 1 out of every 5 non-citizens facing deportation before U.S. immigration courts on criminal grounds are Black. But Black people account for just 7.2% of the non-citizen population in the U.S.
The report shares the people and stories behind these numbers. We conducted interviews in the states of California, New York, Texas, and Illinois. Some of these states have passed drug policy reforms to prevent immigrants from facing double punishment for a drug conviction. But these reforms are often hindered by federal immigration law.
“I’m not able to live and operate without fear because I’m not a citizen,” said one lawful permanent resident who works in California’s marijuana industry. “I’ve lived here for more than 20 years now. This is my home. I have children here. I want to be a citizen, and I’m making every effort to do that. But it seems like that’s not going to be possible.” Due to a conviction for marijuana possession and his participation in the marijuana industry, he can't seek citizenship and lives in fear of deportation.
His story and others show the cruelty behind current immigration policies and their enforcement. These policies unjustly punish people with strong connections to the United States.
Despite the United States deporting 2,400 people per month for drug offenses, it continues to face an unprecedented overdose crisis. Prioritizing enforcement and unfairly targeting immigrants in connection with drugs is not only a cruel approach, it’s ineffective.
Our joint report calls on Congress to reform immigration law. They must ensure immigrants with criminal convictions, including for drug offenses, are not subject to “one-size-fits-all” deportations. Instead, immigration judges should be given the discretion to make individualized decisions. And as an important first step, Congress should impose a statute of limitations on deportations. This would allow people to move beyond old offenses and get on with their lives.
We call on states to reduce criminal penalties for drug offenses and expand access to treatment and health services for those struggling with substance use. States must ensure that these drug policy reforms apply to non-citizens as well.
Drug policy reforms are not inclusive and equitable unless they address harms to immigrants. Lawmakers must update federal law to align with current state-based drug policy reforms. It’s long past time to stop and prevent the human suffering of immigrants caused by the drug war.
Read the full report here.
