AOC & Group Of Democrats Urge Biden To Pardon Cannabis Offenses For Illegal Immigrants, Reopen Deportation Cases

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Jesús G. “Chuy” García (D-IL) sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Monday asking him to pardon all simple marijuana possession offenses, regardless of immigration status.

The letter, also signed by Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA)  Rashida Tlaib, (D-MI) and several other members of Congress, further asked the administration to prioritize decriminalizing and rescheduling cannabis and reopening immigration cases of those who were deported for cannabis-related offenses.

President Biden announced a historic move in October - pardoning all prior federal offenses of simple cannabis possession. The action is estimated to benefit some 6,500 Americans, while some 40,000 people who were convicted on a state level remain unaffected unless state governors abide by Biden’s suggestion and do the same. What’s important is that illegal immigrants and military members were among the groups not included in the pardon.

"Therefore, it is of utmost importance that the Administration pardon all simple marijuana possession offenses – regardless of immigration status. Using the power of the pardon is a constitutional imperative and a critical tool in rectifying the compounding racial injustices of draconian drug policies. However, continuing to deport immigrants for simple marijuana possession will only exacerbate racial disparities, traumatize families and communities vital to this country's fabric, and create ineffective legal regimes at taxpayers' expense," members of Congress stated in the letter.

"Granting pardons to all simple marijuana possession offenses – regardless of immigration status – demonstrates genuine compassion while ensuring that our country continues to mitigate the inhumane and ineffective drudge policies that have ravaged communities of color for so long."

Additionally, the representatives asked the President to reopen immigration cases of those who were deported for simple cannabis-related offenses.

“These actions would restore the lives and dignity of thousands of migrants who were deported for conduct that is now legal in varying capacities across 41 states,” Congress members wrote. “Additionally, following these actions would allow those same people to return to their families and lives in the United States.”

‘We Need To Step Up’

Ocasio-Cortez, known as AOC, was one of the first politicians to publicly raise awareness about illegal immigrants being left out of the pardons.

This is truly great news.

And for people to truly be freed from having their lives haunted by unjust marijuana convictions, we must work to *expunge* records beyond pardoning.

Between that and descheduling cannabis, we can make huge steps forward for so many communities. https://t.co/cJVAvyOM0n

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 7, 2022

Several weeks after she raised the same issue in an interview with Pod Save America, AOC highlighted the importance of having a Democratic Party that fights for Latino communities and immigrants.

“The Democratic Party has not tried in terms of Latino electorates. And I mean, where’s our DREAM Act? Where is our immigration reform? And, even recently with President Biden’s marijuana executive order, I very much applauded that he went there, but he exempted people if they were convicted while they were undocumented," the congresswoman said.

“That is 90%. We’re looking at the overwhelming majority of people who have been convicted that would benefit from that pardon, they have status complications,” AOC added. “We really need to step up, both in our efforts on campaigning but also our efforts in governance.”

Photo: Benzinga Edit; Sources: Wikimedia Commons and Shutterstock