Hey guys. In this video we're gonna talk about the latest immigration news. We have two big news that
broke this week, one today around marijuana, and one yesterday with regard to daca. Let's
go ahead and talk about what's happening. For those of you who are new to me, welcome to my
channel. I'm Latoya McBean, Poy and immigration lawyer in New York, working with people all over
nationwide. And of course, around the world on complex immigration matters. Reach out to us at
McBean law@mcbeanlaw.com, or at 5 1 6 8 66 3900 so that we can, um, have an appointment with you and
talk about your immigration matter. Also, guys, before you go today, subscribe to my channel,
hit the notification bell so that you'll be the first to get notice of these videos each week. So
let's talk firstly about today. President Biden Gu issued a statement, a proclamation declaring
that he is going to grant a pardon for people, thousands of people who have been convicted
of a simple possession of marijuana. And this is a very big deal because as you
guys know, a lot of people here in the United States have been convicted of this very thing,
simple possession of marijuana. And so I wanna take you into, well, who is this really gonna
help? And does this have anything to do with immigration? Can it help immigrants as well?
And so I'm going to firstly read a section of the pardon that he issued, I'm sorry,
the proclamation that he issued today, whereby he says that he hereby grants a full, complete
and unconditional pardon to all current United States citizens and lawful permanent residents,
okay? Who committed the offense of simple possession of marijuana in violation of
the Control Sub Substances Act, and then, and all current United States citizens and LPRs,
lawful permanent resident who have been convicted of the offense of simple possession of marijuana
in violation of the Controlled Substances Act. And he specifically says, it specifically says
here, guys, that this pardon does not apply to individuals who were non-citizen, not lawfully
present in the United States at the time of their offense. So there you have it. This pardon that is
in the news today, um, will not help non-citizen, okay? Non-citizens, of course, it, you know,
non-citizen can also be considered a green card holder, lawful permanent resident. But as you
guys understand from this proclamation that if you're undocumented or if you, you know,
you're here in the United States and you're without lawful status, this will not help you.
And to be honest, guys, even, um, green card Holders, right? Who can this really help from
an immigration standpoint? And so one way that it could help some people is LPRs, who are seeking to
naturalize. They are. If they, there's, if there's a simple possession of marijuana and maybe some
other things on the record, obviously that leads to a great deal of scrutiny for naturalization
purposes and a character issue as well. So maybe within the context of naturalization,
this could help some LPRs. Uh, but for the most part, um, this is not a big deal, um, for a
lot of people who are here in the United States undocumented, or, you know, you're going through
a file in process and you have this on your record and you need a waiver, guys, a waiver
is available for simple possession of marijuana, and that is the only drug related waiver that is
available with immigration if you need that yet, you don't have, um, a relative for the waiver.
Yes, Um, no, I should say no, it won't even help, you know, it won't help those individuals either.
So anyway, this, this is, uh, slated to help about 6,500 people who, uh, have been part, who will,
uh, be pardoned, um, as well as thousands of, of folks in Washington DC as well, who were also
convicted of simple possession of marijuana between 1992 and 2002. And Biden is also,
President Biden is also urgent governors to do something similar because actually there
are more people on the state level state law, you know, um, drug offenses than on the federal
side of things. And so, but what Biden has done today only impacts those who have the
federal simple possession of marijuana offense, not the state one. All right? So that's, that's
the news with regard to marijuana. Now let's talk about DACA guys. Daca, as you guys know,
I, you know, I've been updating you from time to time about daca and I mentioned last time that a
three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals was examining the legality of daca.
They were looking at what happened in Texas to determine whether DACA is should stick around,
whether it's illegal or not. And yesterday they concluded basically a status quo. Nothing has
really changed. Uh, they concluded that, um, this, uh, program can remain intact. Uh, they cited with
Texas on the side that it's illegal, but they refused to go a step further and, um, say that
the program should be terminated and shut down. Right now, they didn't do anything like that.
They basically sent it back to Texas, the issue back to Texas for the judge in Texas to consider
their decision in light of the administrative, the regulations that the Biden administration
Recently, um, finalized. And those regulations around daca, um, are gonna go into effect on
October 31st of this year. And so the rule in yesterday basically says to the judge in Texas, We
need you to take a look at this whole issue again in light of the new federal regulations that the
Biden administration has finalized. And so that's the story. So the status quo with DACA is this,
that if you already have daca, you can renew your, um, your status. But if you do not have daca, the
government is not allowing new applications to be filed. And of course, the Biden administration, as
I mentioned before this came out, I mentioned this a few months ago in a video about, well, how you
know, what's gonna happen with DACA and how you should be proactive, uh, in light of all of the
changes that are happening with this program. In that video I mentioned that one of the things
that I think the administration will do is create something kind of similar. They have to find a way
to transition all these people. You now can't just drop all of these people off this really important
program. So divided administration is now talking about creating something additional, uh, in the
event DACA has to go, a DACA goes away, and then there of course, punt in at the same time
punt into Congress saying, No, you guys need to act, you need to act, you need to act. And so,
um, nothing has happened on Capitol Hill that is worth talking about in this video quite yet
around daca. So guys, that's the current state of affairs with DACA's. Status quo remained, uh,
it's back in, uh, the, uh, jurisdiction of Texas for them to look at. And, um, if anything changes
with respect to daca, I will be sure to let you guys know, share this video with other people.
Comment below, let me know your thoughts. And guys, I will see you in the next one. Bye-bye.