Deported Over a Couple of Joints?

Calling all stoners: Did you know that smoking a couple of joints can get an immigrant deported?

In immigration law, joint #1 + joint #2 = drug trafficking. Yes, in the infinite wisdom of the United States government, two minor drug possession charges makes you a drug trafficker, an "aggravated felony" that results in the deportation of a legal resident immigrant. Silly me -- here I thought you had to actually commit a serious crime to be hit with a felony and determined a drug trafficker who needs to be deported for the safety of the country, not do something that carries the penalty of a mere $100 fine.

You can just be a 20-something-year-old training to be a nurse, while taking care of your U.S. citizen sister who has a brain disorder and supporting your single mother -- like Jerry Lemaine. (I like him already for defying gender stereotypes by studying to be a nurse.) What's extra special about Lemaine's situation is that his first charge for marijuana possession, which occurred when he was a teenager, was dismissed, yet Texas still insists on viewing that as a conviction. But when Lemaine's lawyer went to get his juvenile record cleared, the New York court said, well that's silly, and wouldn't do it -- because the conviction doesn't exist, it can't be erased. Bit of a Catch-22, eh?

By the way, Lemaine is actually one of the lucky ones, because he was able to get a lawyer who could help him argue that two joints does not a drug trafficker make. Most immigrants are detained and deported without access to legal counsel, a travesty of justice. (Speaking of travesty of justice, we won't even start talking about how U.S. drug laws disproportionately impact people of color.)

On the not-so-lucky side, however, while he has recently been released under supervision while his case is pending, he's already spent three years of his young life in detention, and 10 months of that in solitary isolation -- mainly for his own protection, since the Karnes County Correctional Center tosses immigration detainees in with federal prisoners, and he said that, as the only black detainee in his dorm, he was vulnerable to attacks. All this for an offense that doesn't even carry a prison sentence.

Nina Bernstein, my favorite New York Times immigration writer, reports that Lemaine is one of many awaiting with bated breath the verdict for a case to be argued before the Supreme Court tomorrow. Carachuri-Rosendo v. Holder deals with a legal resident immigrant deported back to Mexico due to two convictions: one for weed, and one for having a tablet of Xanax without a prescription. His U.S citizen fiancee and four children could do nothing to stop his removal. He is challenging the interpretation of immigration law that deems two drug-related offenses to be deportation-worthy drug trafficking, no matter how minor they are.

Photo credit: iTopher