US/California: Pass Drug Reform for Immigrants

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(Los Angeles) – California’s legislature should enact two bills that would ensure immigrants charged with drug possession have the same opportunity as United States citizens to benefit from programs designed to divert drug offenders from prison toward treatment, Human Rights Watch said today. The bills, Assembly Bill (AB) 1351 and AB 1352, passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee on August 27, 2015, and will face a final vote in the full Senate, possibly as early as this week.

The two bills address a gap between California state law and federal immigration law. Under California law, participants who successfully complete drug diversion under a program known as Deferred Entry of Judgment earn a dismissal of charges and a clean record. But because they must plead guilty before starting the program, federal law considers even successful participants as having a conviction that can trigger deportation and mandatory detention for permanent residents (“green card holders”) and unauthorized immigrants alike.

“California’s program aims to give low-level drug offenders a chance to move on without their lives ruined by the stigma of a criminal conviction,” said Grace Meng, senior US researcher at Human Rights Watch. “By passing AB 1351 and 1352, California will be a leader in extending drug reform to all of its residents.”

AB 1351 amends the Deferred Entry of Judgment program so that the defendant enters a not guilty plea before starting and thus avoids a conviction under US immigration law. AB 1352 allows individuals who already successfully completed the program to withdraw their guilty pleas if they face the denial or loss of employment or other benefits, including the ability to remain in the US, because of their prior guilty pleas.

The California Assembly voted in favor of the bills on May 4.

The US government regularly targets for deportation green card holders and other immigrants with longstanding ties to the US who have convictions for drug offenses, including offenses that are decades old or resulted in little or no prison time. Deportations of non-citizens for drug possession have increased. According to data obtained by Human Rights Watch from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, deportations of non-citizens whose most serious conviction was for drug possession increased 43 percent from 2007 to 2012.

“Many US states are reforming drug policy by legalizing, decriminalizing, and reducing long sentences for drug offenders,” Meng said. “But millions of immigrants who have lived in the US for decades are exiled and separated from their families for low-level drug offenses – California can change that.”