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MAN MAY BE DEPORTED FOR SECURING MARIJUANA FOR WIFE WITH CANCER
Ismail Valenzuela, a Mexican national and lawful permanent resident of the US, is facing deportation because of a guilty plea in 1995.  He says the two pounds of marijuana he admitted possessing was going to be used by his wife, a US citizen who has cancer of the thyroid.  Because of the 1996 changes to immigration law, these mitigating factors will not be considered in determining whether to deport him.  In 1995, he was given an eight month suspended sentence and ordered to perform 90 hours of community service.   
While he was told in 1995 that there could be immigration consequences to the conviction, he says their full extent was not explained.  Valenzuela’s lawyer is trying to have the conviction reversed on this basis.  If this fails, they will argue that the new law should not apply to him because he was convicted before it went into effect.  Some courts have favorably received this argument.  
Advocates who urge that the law be modified to allow consideration of a person’s ties to the US and their rehabilitation, as well as the circumstances of the criminal conviction are seizing upon Valenzuela’s case.  Another factor that cannot be considered under current law is Valenzuela’s wife’s cancer – she does not want to leave the US because of the medical treatment she can receive here.  Also, the couple has five young US citizen children, for whom, if their father is deported, their mother will have a difficult time caring because of her illness.