As the Trump administration continues escalating its attacks on immigrants, federal officials recently denied citizenship to two immigrants solely because they worked in Colorado’s legal marijuana industry. The move has quickly become controversial, as activists and progressive lawmakers worry that the federal government might begin using cannabis laws in weed-legal states as a pretext for targeting immigrants.
Immigrants in Denver Denied Citizenship
In recent weeks, two immigrants living in Denver were denied citizenship. And in both cases, immigration officials cited the same reason: both had worked in Colorado’s legal marijuana industry.
One of the immigrants denied citizenship is from Lithuania. To date, this individual’s name has not been made public due to concerns over their current employment status.
The other is 30-year-old Oswaldo Barrientos, who currently works as cultivation manager at The Dab, a fully legal cannabis company in Denver.
Barrientos discovered his interest for cannabis when his mother was diagnosed with Stage 3 melanoma skin cancer. In the wake of her diagnosis, he said he immediately began researching medical marijuana.
“I studied and read everything I could,” he told High Times. “I just really saw the medicinal value cannabis holds and I truly believe in it. That’s what catapulted me into the industry.”
Entrapped by USCIS?
A resident and Green Card holder, Barrientos has lived in the United States since he was one, when his mother immigrated to the U.S. from her native El Salvador.
In November 2018, as part of his citizenship application, Barrientos completed an interview with officials from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Leading up to this interview, Barrientos said he aced all the tests required for citizenship. And for the most part, the interview went well, too.
But then things