Last July, US President Barack Obama gave a speech in which he criticized the United States criminal justice system’s unduly harsh sentences for drug offenses, saying “If you’re a low-level drug dealer…you don’t owe 20 years. You don’t owe a life sentence.”

Melida Ruiz, a lawful permanent resident, pictured with her daughter, Mercedez Ruiz, and her grandson, Christopher Gonzalez. In 2011, Melida was held in immigration detention for seven months while she fought deportation based on a 2002 misdemeanor drug conviction, her sole conviction in more than 30 years in the United States. © 2013 Platon for Human Rights Watch

The Obama administration has placed health interventions at the heart of its drug policies, enacted new prosecutorial policies to minimize sentences for federal drug crimes, and called for reforms to harsh sentencing laws, which have been welcome. Yet, that same administration has also deported hundreds of thousands of immigrants, including green card holders with US citizen family members, for drug offenses. Many were deported for offenses that were several years or even decades old, or for offenses so minor that even under US law – which is generally quick to resort to incarceration – they led to little or no prison time.

The administration deported Marion Scholz to Germany, for example, because of misdemeanors for drug possession stemming from drug dependence. Ms. Scholz had lived in the US as a legal permanent resident for over 45 years and was enrolled in treatment when deported; she left behind her son, father, and siblings. Raul Valdez, a permanent resident from Mexico who grew up in the US, was deported in 2014 because of a 2003 conviction for possession of cannabis with intent to deal, for which he had been sentenced to 60 days in jail. He was separated from his US citizen fiancée, parents, and siblings. “Antonio S.,” who came to the US from Mexico when he was 12, and was eligible for a reprieve from deportation under an executive program for people brought to the US as children, was deported in his early 20s after a conviction for possession of marijuana, a municipal violation to which he pleaded guilty without an attorney.

These cases are not unique. Between 2007 and 2012, the US government deported over a quarter of a million people after convictions for drug offenses. Deportations of people for drug possession spiked 43 percent during the same period. And like the examples above, many were not drug cartel leaders or major dealers, but immigrants with convictions stemming from personal use or low-level sales offenses. Many also had deep ties to their communities, and were forced to leave behind US citizen children, spouses, and other close relatives.

Obama and other political leaders in the US are starting to recognize that locking people up is not the way to solve the societal harms of drug use. Deporting people and separating families is not the answer either.