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Immigrants get caught between federal laws and state laws on marijuana.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the federal agency responsible for processing visa and citizenship applications, rejected immigrants who work for the marijuana industry or who admitted to work in the marijuana industry. use in states where it is legal, say lawyers and immigration lawyers.
This is another example of how the contradiction between state and federal laws extends beyond issues related to the legal marijuana industry itself. Although 33 US states and the District of Columbia authorize some form of marijuana use, the drug remains illegal in all areas under federal jurisdiction, including green cards and naturalization.
Frictions between federal and local authorities have increased under the Trump administration, which is less tolerant than its predecessor with respect to laws relating to immigrants and local pots.
Yesterday, USCIS published a newsletter (pdf) highlighting that marijuana use is a factor in eliminating citizenship applications, whether legal or not.
Drug use is not a new USCIS criterion. The organization has used it for a long time to determine if an immigrant has a "good moral character" and deserves to stay in the United States. But so far, denials of legal legality have mostly been seen in the states of Colorado and Washington, which legalized marijuana for recreational purposes, said Kathy Brady of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), a California non-profit organization that defends the rights of immigrants.
Brady fears that the new referral bulletin will result in more marijuana-related refusals, as USCIS agents are extending the practice to other states that have legalized the drug. She told Quartz that this announcement was "part of the Trump administration's plan to eliminate or block as many immigrants as possible".
A spokesman for the USCIS said the bulletin complied with federal law that marijuana is considered a prohibited substance in the same category as LSD or ecstasy.
USCIS Survey
The USCIS can determine if someone has used drugs in several ways. The simplest way is to ask, either through an application or during an interview, whether an immigrant has been using drugs or breaking the law.
For example, a green card applicant married to a US citizen may now be deported after an immigration officer asked him if he had ever used marijuana. The man replied that he had tried it once or twice during the holidays since DC had legalized the pot, but he did not like it.
"Admitting this, it was declared definitely inadmissible," says Brady, who was introduced to the man through the intermediary of his lawyer. "He has not received a green card and he can now be expelled."
Drug use can also appear during the health exam required for green card candidates. The doctor who performs it may request a drug test for various reasons, including a history of drug addiction, physical or psychological signs of an addiction problem or even long discrepancies between schooling and the drug. 39; employment.
Jobs in the marijuana industry
A workplace with a cannabis-related name is another red flag for USCIS. In the eyes of the federal government, even an accountant or secretary working for someone in the marijuana sector could be considered controlled substance trafficking.
Jeff Joseph, a Colorado-based immigration law attorney, states that he has at least one case a week involving a person who is no longer eligible to become a citizen because he or she is not a citizen. she worked for a marijuana business. USCIS may even deny benefits to immigrant spouses of, for example, clinic workers because they have technically benefited from the benefits of selling drugs, he says.
"Marijuana has important implications for all types of immigration applications," he adds.
More awareness
The new USCIS guidelines will likely raise awareness of the pitfalls associated with the legal use of the pot. Many people do not even realize that what they are doing is illegal under federal law.
Joseph, for example, recommends that clients invoke their right not to incriminate themselves under the Fifth Amendment when the USCIS asks them about marijuana.
In the meantime, the IRCB recommends that non-citizens never leave their homes with marijuana or accessories, a medical marijuana card, or clothing with marijuana pictures. It also recommends that immigrants have nothing to do with the pot or post messages on social networks – which would be monitored by immigration authorities – about any personal relationship with drugs.
She concludes that only people who are already US citizens can consume marijuana or work in the legal sector without any worries.
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