Groundbreaking Human Rights Watch Report: Drug War Drives Mass Deportation Johnny Green - The Weed Blog
go to original June 19, 2015

Download full report: A Price Too High (PDF)

Human Rights Watch released a first-of-its-kind report showing that tens of thousands of people are deported from the United States each year for minor drug law violations. The report, A Price Too High: U.S. Families Torn Apart by Deportations for Drug Offenses, documents how deportations of non-citizens for minor drug possession offenses have spiked in recent years, increasing by 43% from 2007 to 2012. In total, more than a quarter of a million people (roughly 266,000) have been deported for drug offenses since 2007, most commonly for minor drug possession offenses.

Under current immigration laws that focus on targeting “threats to public safety and national security,” decades-old offenses and/or pardoned drug convictions can lead to mandatory detention and deportation. However, Human Rights Watch found that most non-citizens deported for criminal convictions had only committed minor, nonviolent offenses.

The damning new report provides another example of how the war on drugs has become a war against migrant communities, fueling racism, violence, and the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border. Roughly 40,000 people (or more) have been deported every year since 2008 due to drug law violations. Latino communities more broadly have been disproportionately impacted by U.S. drug law enforcement; for example, Latinos comprise 17 percent of the U.S. population but almost half of all cases in federal courts for drug offenses.

In 2013, nearly 20,000 people were deported for simple possession of any drug or drug paraphernalia – and simple marijuana possession was the fourth most common cause of deportation and the most common cause of deportation for crimes involving drugs. By contrast, relatively few of those deported were drug traffickers. Meanwhile, current drug laws are tearing thousands of families apart every year by barring reentry for those who are deported and cutting their ties to their communities.

“Ending the failed war on drugs is a Latino issue,” said Jerónimo Saldaña, Legislative and Organizing Coordinator at the Drug Policy Alliance. “No family should have to face the injustice of separation. No one should be arrested, incarcerated or deported just for using or possessing drugs. We need to continue to fight for reforms so that no family is criminalized and torn apart.”

Read the rest at The Weed Blog

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