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A woman was denied a US citizenship for working in legal cannabis even though she had all the papers and married an American

December 25, 2023
professormaurice
1,167 Comments
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HAKIZIMANA Maurice

As an immigrant, Maria Reimers has entered the U.S. legally, married an American citizen and secured a green card to work. Together, she and her husband managed to open a small storefront in Ephrata, a dot of a town in Washington state.

But when Reimers tried to become a U.S. citizen in 2017, she was denied for lack of “good moral character.” Federal immigration officials deemed her work “illicit drug trafficking,” because the couple’s business in Ephrata sells state-regulated cannabis. Though it is legal in Washington state, their retail shop has put Reimers’ dream of citizenship in jeopardy.

She gets to keep her green card, but her attorney recommended that she not visit her family in El Salvador because of the possibility that she’d be detained at the border when she returned. 

“We didn’t think about the consequences of getting involved, or how the federal law was going to affect us,” Reimers said. “I’ve been in this country 20 years. I am contributing to the country, but I don’t have the moral character to become a citizen? Do you think it is fair?”

Immigrants across the country in states where cannabis has been legalized share Reimers’ frustration. The federal government still considers cannabis illegal, but since states began to legalize sales in 2014, it has largely looked the other way when U.S. citizens get involved in the burgeoning industry. Immigrants, however, still face a litany of consequences — including denial of citizenship, lifetime bans from lawful permanent residency and even deportation. 

This is one thing you need to know if you are an immigrant to the USA: what is legal in a state is not legal at the federal level. And this has a huge impact on your application for naturalization and even permanent residency.

Denying citizenship or lawful permanent residency for legal marijuana work is “just an interpretation (of the law),” said Kathy Brady, director of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, a California-based nonprofit. “What the administration could do would be to change their interpretation, at least for the people working in the legal industry,” she said. “I talk with so many people who are getting really screwed by this.”

The Reimers, meanwhile, have sued U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services over Maria’s denial. They lost one appeal in 2022, and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the denial again in July. In October, they filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. So far, the court has not agreed to hear the case.

US Supreme court

The broad impact those policies are having on immigrants has attracted the attention of the senior U.S. senators from Oregon and Washington, who called for Biden to soften them.

“Individuals legally using cannabis under state law or working in state-licensed cannabis businesses should not face immigration penalties that treat them as criminals,” said Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon. “I support calls for the administration to address these inequities administratively, and I will continue to push to enact legislation to permanently reform our archaic federal drug policy.”

Do You Have the Good Moral Character USCIS is Looking For?

The Reimers wish they’d never gotten involved in the industry. They have been trying to sell their business for a few years without any luck. While waiting to see how their Supreme Court appeal unfolds, they are considering all their options.

Reimers could choose to stop working at the business, which could help her gain citizenship in the future. Unlike the admissibility standards for a green card, the “good moral character” standard for citizenship generally looks only at an applicant’s past five years. 

But now that immigration officials are aware of her connections to cannabis, she’s scrapped her plans to see her family in El Salvador.

“I was hoping I could go visit my grandmother. I thought if I become a citizen, maybe I could help my mother. But I am incapacitated,” she said. “I’ve been cut off. I can’t really do much.” “I can keep paying taxes, though.”

If you live in the USA, how did you get citizenship? What advice can you give to new immigrants in order to have their applications accepted?

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Hakizimana Maurice 

My source: InvestigateWest is an independent news nonprofit dedicated to investigative journalism in the Pacific Northwest.

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