“Disrupt and Smear”: The War on Immigrants – Inside the US War on Drugs – United States of America

USA: Despite government reforms, the number of drug-related deportations is rising rapidly

Hundreds of thousands of cases cause devastating damage to families and communities

• Every year, thousands of people are deported for drug-related offenses, even though in many cases these offenses are no longer punishable under state law, harming and separating immigrant families.
• Punitive federal immigration laws separate families, destabilize communities and terrorize noncitizens – all while overdose deaths rise and drugs become more potent and accessible.
• Congress should reform immigration law to give immigration judges the ability to make individual decisions, and states should ensure that drug reforms apply to noncitizens.

(Washington, DC, July 15, 2024) – Thousands of people in the United States are deported each year for drug offenses that are in many cases no longer punishable under state law, harming and separating immigrant families, Human Rights Watch and the Drug Policy Alliance said today.

The 91-page report, “Disrupt and Vilify,” shows that failure to reform the U.S.’s disproportionately strict immigration law has led to massive deportations, torn families apart, destroyed communities and destabilized people well-established in the U.S. For example, U.S. immigration law, which treats certain forms of marijuana use as a deportable offense, conflicts with many states’ laws on recreational marijuana use and punishes immigrants and noncitizens for activities that are legal for citizens at the state level. The groups found that between 2002 and 2020, 500,000 people were deported whose most serious offense was drug offenses.

“America’s unique combination of the drug war and deportation machine work hand in hand to target, exclude and punish noncitizens for minor offenses – or in some states, legal activities – like marijuana possession,” said Maritza Perez Medina, Director of Federal Affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA). “This report underscores that punitive federal drug laws are separating families, destabilizing communities and terrorizing noncitizens while overdose deaths are rising and drugs are becoming more powerful and accessible. It is imperative that the U.S. government revise federal laws to align with current state drug policy reforms to end and prevent the immense human suffering caused in the name of the drug war.”

Human Rights Watch and the Drug Policy Alliance interviewed 42 people affected by the deportations, including immigrants, families and lawyers. The groups also analyzed new federal data from 2002 to 2020 and found that 500,000 people were deported whose most serious offense was drug-related. A previous Human Rights Watch report showed that 260,000 people were deported for drug offenses from 2002 to 2012. This report updates that number to include an additional 240,000 people deported between 2013 and 2020, which represents about one in five deportations of immigrants with a criminal conviction during that period.

Overdoses have increased dramatically even though the United States has carried out a large number of deportations during this period, highlighting the ineffectiveness of such policies and approaches that vilify immigrants in drug-related terms.

Convictions for even the most minor drug offenses — such as possession of a small amount of a controlled substance, including marijuana — have devastating consequences that far exceed the sentence imposed. The groups found that between 2002 and 2020, the federal government deported at least 156,000 people whose most serious offense was drug use or possession, including over 47,000 for marijuana use or possession, even though marijuana has been legalized or decriminalized in most states. Often, the offenses that lead to deportation occurred decades ago or are so minor that they resulted in little or no prison time. Some of these would not be crimes today.

“Why should parents or grandparents be deported for decades-old drug offenses, including ones that would be legal today?” said Vicki Gaubeca, deputy immigration and border policy director at Human Rights Watch. “If drug offenses are not a crime under state law, that should not result in someone being deported.”

The report focuses on deportations from states with high immigrant populations that have reformed their drug policies, including California, Illinois, New York and Texas. It includes the following cases:

• Refugees and U.S. military veterans separated from their homes and families due to deportation for drug offenses;
• Immigrants who have lived in the United States since childhood but were deported for drug offenses, sometimes marijuana offenses that would now be legal in their states;
• Immigrant women who were sexually abused by correctional officers while incarcerated for drug offenses, in part because their abusers knew they would soon be deported;
• Drug-related crimes have resulted in immigrants being deported to countries with dangerous human rights conditions, including one man who was sent back to Haiti.

Many of the respondents faced automatic deportation because their crimes are defined under immigration law as “serious drug-trafficking-related offenses,” which excludes them from almost all forms of immigration assistance; among them are several people convicted of minor offenses. In such cases, the judge is prohibited from considering individual factors such as proof of family ties in the U.S., rehabilitation, military service, and other factors, and must instead order the immigrant’s deportation. Some of the respondents are legal permanent residents who were unable to obtain citizenship because of their drug use, including behaviors that are legal in their states, such as working in the marijuana industry.

“I cannot live and act without fear because I am not a citizen,” said a legal California resident convicted of possession of marijuana and paraphernalia. “I have lived here for more than 20 years now. This is my home. I have children here. I want to be a citizen and I am trying my best to make that happen. But it seems like that is not going to be possible.”

There are significant racial disparities in the imposition of immigration sentences. Overall, most people deported from the United States for criminal offenses are Black and Brown. Even within the noncitizen category, Black immigrants are disproportionately affected. More than one in five noncitizens facing criminal deportation in U.S. immigration courts are Black. Black immigrants are more likely to be held in immigration detention for longer periods and are less likely to be released.

As the overdose crisis and immigration reform become more central to policy debates and campaigns, the Drug Policy Alliance and Human Rights Watch stress that elected officials must show leadership by considering research and pursuing evidence-based policies grounded in public health, safety and human rights.

“Deportations tear families apart, and there is clear evidence that overdose deaths have increased even as the U.S. deports 2,400 people each month for drug-related offenses,” said Perez Medina. “Our lawmakers must ensure that drug policy reforms prioritize public health policies to address the overdose crisis and problematic drug use. Excluding and vilifying our immigrant neighbors is inhumane and does not solve the issues our communities care about.”

Congress should reform immigration law to ensure that immigrants with criminal records, including drug offenses, are not deported on a “blanket basis.” Instead, immigration judges should be given the power to make individual decisions. As a first important step, Congress should establish a statute of limitations on deportations so that people can put old offenses behind them and move on with their lives.

At the same time, States should ensure that reforms to reduce penalties for drug-related offences and to facilitate treatment and health care for people with drug problems are designed in such a way that non-citizens can also benefit.

“The current and previous administrations have recognized the disproportionate impact that hardline drug policies have on black and brown communities,” Gaubeca said. “But through their immigration policies, Congress and the executive branch are perpetuating these harms and destroying many of these communities.”