Congressional Black Caucus wants POTUS to halt deportations for marijuana use

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The Biden Administration is receiving more pressure to reverse cannabis policies

A coalition has formed in Congress with a single goal, to reopen certain deportation cases, including those involving marijuana. In order to accomplish this, a letter was sent to President Joe Biden mid-week, and it is very likely that it is currently on his desk awaiting analysis.

The letter, which was also addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, was spearheaded by Representative Mondaire Jones, but had 30 members of the Congressional Black Caucus sign on to support it. It has a special emphasis on deportations and their disproportionate impact on people of color. It calls on POTUS to use his power and authority to have a renewed process created so that cases can be reevaluated and reversed. This has always been an issue that has been raised over the last several years, and as legalization grows, more and more importance has been given to it.

“We are grateful for President Biden’s commitment to redressing racial injustice, particularly after the last four years of the Trump Administration’s racist and xenophobic immigration agenda,” Jones says. “A critical step in fulfilling that commitment is to ensure that people who were wrongfully deported can be fairly and efficiently considered for return to their families and communities in the United States.”

In order to provide further clarity, the lawmakers have cited a series of events where there have been cases of wrongful deportation in which large numbers of immigrants have been harmed. The letter asks Biden and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to “consider the stories of U.S. veteran Howard Bailey and U.S. resident Kenault Lawrence,” who were deported to Jamaica for “longstanding marijuana convictions.

Now it is just a matter of seeing if the president and the agency decide to take action on the matter and come up with a reform in the way these cases are handled.