WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17
PROGRAM # 8587 12:00 PM PT
Marijuana Industry Workers Denied Citizenship.
Longtime green-card residents are being denied US citizenship only because they worked in the legal marijuana industry. Immigrants are getting caught in the crossfire between state laws approved by voters and federal laws. An analyst comments on the case of Denver resident Oswaldo Barrientos, warns on the risks for those immigrants associated with the legal cannabis industry and praises the efforts by leaders like the Denver Mayor to push for the federal government to respect state laws.
Guest: Armando Gudiño, California Policy Director, Drug Policy Alliance, Los Angeles, CA.
“364-Day” Law. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert signed into law a bill that will help noncitizens convicted of a misdemeanor like shoplifting avoid deportation. The new law in Utah reduces the maximum sentence for misdemeanors by a day. Under federal immigration law, a state misdemeanor that is penalized with a sentence of a year or more is grounds for automatic deportation. Utah joins California, Nevada, Washington and New York in passing a “364-day” law.
Guest: John Mejia, Legal Director, ACLU of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
The REAL Act. A new criminal-justice-reform bill in the US Senate will allow federal inmates to participate in federal higher education programs by allowing them to apply for Pell grants. This financial aid was banned for prisoners in 1994 after a tough-on-crime law was passed. A leading sponsor of the bill, known as Restoring Education And Learning (REAL) Act, joins this program.
Guest: US Sen. Mike Lee, Republican-Utah, Washington, DC.
Photo: kunc.org
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