A new report from Human Rights Watch and the Drug Policy Alliance reveals that nearly 50,000 non-citizens have been deported over the past two decades for marijuana possession.
The report, covering federal deportation data from 2002 to 2021, indicates that approximately 156,000 non-citizens were deported during this period for drug possession, with nearly one-third (47,000) of these cases involving marijuana.
The report, titled Disrupt and Vilify: The War on Immigrants Inside the US War on Drugs, highlights that some deportations are for activities related to marijuana that are no longer illegal under state and local laws. The authors noted that federal immigration laws have not been updated to reflect changing public attitudes toward marijuana.
“The US federal government has thus far been unwilling to revise federal immigration law to match current public sentiment on drugs,” the report states. It further explains that there is no statute of limitations on deportation following a criminal conviction, resulting in immigrants being deported for offenses dating back to the 1980s and 1990s, even if those offenses are no longer considered crimes under state law.
Overall, the report concludes that nearly 20% of all deportations involved drug-related convictions. The full report can be found by clicking here.
