Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly said Tuesday that marijuana is a serious drug and possession would be used as a basis to deport illegal immigrants.
“Let me be clear about marijuana. It is a potentially dangerous gateway drug that frequently leads to the use of harder drugs,” Kelly said at George Washington University. “Its use and possession is against federal law and until that law is changed by the United States Congress we at DHS along with the rest of the federal government are sworn to uphold all the laws that are on the books.”
Kelly went on to say that ICE would use marijuana convictions as a reason to deport as “they have done this in the past, are doing it today, and will do it in the future.”
Kelly then addressed the lawmakers who have complained about the surge in detentions and deportations, including contentious meetings with Hispanic Congressional Caucus, by essentially saying, “get with the program.”
“If lawmakers do not like the laws they’ve passed and we are charged to enforce, then they should have the courage and skill to change the laws. Otherwise they should shut up and support the men and women on the front lines,” he said to applause from the law-and-order crowd.
The statement comes a month after Attorney General Jeff Sessions compared medicinal marijuana to heroin, along with other instances of Republicans ignoring the Obama administration’s efforts to de-emphasize marijuana and focus on harder drugs after legalized weed efforts showed success.
(Via New York Daily News)