On January 24, 23-year-old Kyle, TX resident Ever Mendoza was arrested by the Hays County Sheriff’s Office & charged with possession of a small amount of marijuana.
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Ever works like any other in the Kyle area. Pays taxes on his labor and every other area like a Texan and contributes to the economy. Working in a desperately undermanned area of Texas, Mr. Mendoza works in the HVAC field. Why is this important? Because Mr. Mendoza is an immigrant from El Salvador awaiting citizenship.
Mendoza moved to Texas two years ago to live with his brother, in search of a better life. Up until this point, Mr. Mendoza was living a life where he bothered nobody and minded his business. However, the Hays County Sheriff’s department did not see it as such. This arrest and immigration status resulted in ICE placing a hold/detainer on Ever, meaning they plan to pick him from Hays County Jail as soon as his criminal case (for possessing a small quantity of pot, something that’s perfectly legal elsewhere in this nation) is resolved so that they can enter him into the deportation system.
This comes after the Hays County Sheriff’s Department said they would start a cite and divert program.
Marijuana possession is a citation-eligible offense; the Sheriff’s Office didn’t need to arrest Ever. If the D.A. Wes Mau & Sheriff Cutler had honored their word by implementing Cite & Divert by Sept 1, 2020 –– as they promised to do in a July press release last year –– it is possible Ever’s case would have never been filed, he could have avoided arrest, avoided the threat of expulsion from the nation. Because he simply could have pursued the Cite & Divert process to pay fines, commit to education or volunteer hours and avoid any criminal penalty. Instead, he’s at real risk of deportation.
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Deported for possessing a small quantity of pot, something that’s perfectly legal elsewhere around Texas to include the country of Mexico. As Mano Amigo has pointed out, “As well, the head of the Dept. of Homeland Security has made crystal-clear –– in what is called the Pekoske Memo –– that under Biden’s administration, ICE must reprioritize who gets deported to focus exclusively on certain felony convictions. Low-level pot possession is absolutely not a priority; in fact, under state law (passed predominantly by Republicans & signed by Gov. Perry in 2007), there’s no requirement to even arrest for it!“
Crossfire issues
You as a Texan are at risk in places that say they won’t arrest you because the law enforcement agencies use these arrests as deportation tools in hopes to deter immigration. Deportation tools on the lowest priority individuals. Then on the flip side, immigrants who have done nothing morally wrong and have violated nobody else get put in the crossfire of LEO’s that uses marijuana as a tool against citizens to boost their numbers and fund departments or equipment.
Whether you feel that the Ever Mendoza deserves to be in this country is a different discussion. But not one person deserves to be in jail for something that has brought zero harm to others. Only the prohibition itself has caused harm over these years, and unfortunately Ever will unjustly pay the price for it.
That’s enraging.