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| Their Pot Convictions Were Erased, but They Still Face Deportation | Their Pot Convictions Were Erased, but They Still Face Deportation |
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| In 2019, New York decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana. Two years later, the state legalized recreational marijuana. The laws had the effect of automatically erasing certain low-level convictions related to the drug. | In 2019, New York decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana. Two years later, the state legalized recreational marijuana. The laws had the effect of automatically erasing certain low-level convictions related to the drug. |
| At the time, officials noted that the new laws were intended to rectify the state’s “racially disparate” enforcement of marijuana crimes. Yet, for many immigrants who received deportation orders because of their marijuana convictions, the benefits of these new laws have yet to materialize. | At the time, officials noted that the new laws were intended to rectify the state’s “racially disparate” enforcement of marijuana crimes. Yet, for many immigrants who received deportation orders because of their marijuana convictions, the benefits of these new laws have yet to materialize. |
| I am an immigration attorney, and representing clients with deportation orders makes up much of my work. Among my clients is Kwame Siriboe, a Ghanaian immigrant who received asylum in 1992. Mr. Siriboe was ordered to be deported in 2013 because of three convictions for low-level marijuana sales from 1999 to 2001. However, the government was not able to immediately get a travel document from his home country, an issue that affects a small percentage of deportations each year. | I am an immigration attorney, and representing clients with deportation orders makes up much of my work. Among my clients is Kwame Siriboe, a Ghanaian immigrant who received asylum in 1992. Mr. Siriboe was ordered to be deported in 2013 because of three convictions for low-level marijuana sales from 1999 to 2001. However, the government was not able to immediately get a travel document from his home country, an issue that affects a small percentage of deportations each year. |
| For nearly a decade, Mr. Siriboe was forced to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement at least twice a year while he waited for the government to deport him. In that time, he took trade school classes in property maintenance. Upon graduating, he landed a job maintaining a domestic violence shelter and was classified as an essential worker during the pandemic. He also watched with hope as the New York Legislature debated, and then passed, its 2019 law decriminalizing marijuana. | For nearly a decade, Mr. Siriboe was forced to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement at least twice a year while he waited for the government to deport him. In that time, he took trade school classes in property maintenance. Upon graduating, he landed a job maintaining a domestic violence shelter and was classified as an essential worker during the pandemic. He also watched with hope as the New York Legislature debated, and then passed, its 2019 law decriminalizing marijuana. |
| The automatic expungements in the 2019 law applied only to marijuana possession (it wasn’t until 2021 that this policy was extended to include sales). However, the law included language that Mr. Siriboe was able to use to prompt a New York criminal court to get rid of his sale offenses. | |
| In 2020, I filed a motion with the immigration court, arguing that because Mr. Siriboe’s convictions had been thrown out, he should not be deported. More than 90 family, friends and community members wrote letters to the court in support of the motion, and the court terminated his deportation order in early 2022. He became a U.S. citizen in December. |