The House’s marijuana legalization bill includes an amnesty that can help bring back illegal migrants who were deported after drug convictions.
“Just got around to reading the House #cannabis bill and actually stopped breathing for a few seconds when I saw this subtitle,” said a tweet from Matt Cameron, an immigration lawyer in Boston. “This one sentence could change millions of lives by reuniting families separated by deportation and arbitrary inadmissibility,” he added.
The subtitle in the bill says the legalization covers prior convictions:
In General.—For purposes of the immigration laws … cannabis may not be considered a controlled substance, and an alien may not be denied any benefit or protection under the immigration laws based on any event, including conduct, a finding, an admission, addiction or abuse, an arrest, a juvenile adjudication, or a conviction, relating to cannabis, regardless of whether the event occurred before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
The bill does not directly grant amnesty to illegal migrants. But it would prevent officials from using marijuana convictions to deport illegal migrants through the clogged courts. The language could also help lawyers argue for the return of illegal migrants who were deported after marijuana convictions.
