PAGE 12A HERITAGE FLORIDA JEWISH NEWS, FEBRUARY 9, 2018
,~
@
Shimon Abta and his wife, who asked not to be named, visiting the Western Wall in
Jerusalem in happier times.
By Debra Nussbaum
Cohen
NEW YORK (JTA)--It
shouldn't have been compli-
cated. Shimon Abta, an expert
Israeli cannabis agronomist,
was sent by his employer to
consult with American com-
panies in stateswhere medical
marijuana is legal. He was
living in Las Vegas and met
an American Jewish woman
on JDate. They married last
year and together started be-
coming more religious. Both
in their 30s, they are eager to
start a family.
But on Jan. 8, U.S. im-
migration officials told Abta
to withdraw his application
for permanent residency
status and leave for Israel
that very day or face arrest on
felony charges of illicit drug
trafficking. He was given
two hours to pack and say
goodbye to his wife, who did
not want her name used in
this article.
Though he left voluntarily,
if under pressure, when he
landed in San Francisco to
change planes, uniformed
border patrol agents boarded
his flight and escorted him
off, handcuffing him in full
view of other passengers,Abta
told JTA. They confiscated
his passport, cellphone and
cigarettes, and refused to tell
him where they were taking
him, Abta said. They wouldn't
let him answer the phone as
his wife called repeatedly--
"frantically," she told JTA.
Eventually they walked
Abta through the airport
to his connecting flight.
Other passengers stared as the
bearded Israeli, surrounded
by uniformed officers, was
ushered to the gate.
Now Abta is in Israel while
his wife remains in Las Vegas
finishing a master's degree
that will, ironically, equip
her to counsel opioid addicts.
They desperately want to be
reunited, both told JTA in
separate interviews.
Abta appears to be the lone
cannabis industry worker ex-
pelled from the United States
due to a gap between federal
and state law. Federal U.S.
law deems any involvement
in the marijuana industry
illegal, while Nevada is one
of 29 states and the District
of Columbia where creden-
tialed doctors can prescribe
cannabis. Israel is a world-
wide leader in research on
its medical uses and Abta's
former employer, Tikun Olam
Ltd is one of Israel's largest
suppliers of medical cannabis
and a major presence in the
U.S. market, providing its
technology and expertise to
growers and manufacturers
here.
Specialists in immigration
law and in the U.S. and Israeli
cannabis industries say Abta
is the only person they know
of who has been caught in the
breach between federal and
state law.
"I haven't heard of anyone
being deported for that," said
Saul Kaye, founder and CEO of
iCan: Israel-Cannabis, which
promotes Israel's industry
overseas.
Abta's"voluntary" removal
comes at a time when the
Trump administration has
demonstrated great zeal for
deporting foreign citizens.
The U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Service, or
USCIS--the Department
of Homeland Security arm
tasked with processing Green
Cards--sent Abta a letter
dated Dec. 20 denying his
application for a Green Card.
According to the letter, the
"USCIS has determined that
you are an illicit trafficker of
controlled substances. There-
fore, you are inadmissible to
the United States. There is
no waiver for this inadmis-
sibility."
His wife, who asked not
to be named to preserve her
privacy, said she nor her
husband want him arrested,
"and definitely not on false
charges."
"Everything he was doing
was legal," she said. "He was
basically defamed, calling
him a drug trafficker. He's a
scientist.
"Part of what made me fall
Every day that you're outside, you're exposed to dangerous, but invisible, ultraviolet (UV) sunlight Left unprotected, prolonged
exposure to UV radiation can seriously damage the eye, leading to cataracts, skin cancer around the eyelid and other eye disorders
Protecting your eyes is important to maintaining eye health now and in the future.
Shield yeur eyes (and your family's eyes) from harmful UV rays. Wear sunglasses with maximum UV protection.
~~i ii!: VlglON{Oi.ii!; :i!
in love with him is a real desire
to improve people's quality of
life when they have chronic
illnesses."
Asked about Abta's case,
USCIS spokeswoman Maria
Elena Upson said, "While
many states have changed
their laws to make the sale and
possession of marijuana legal
under certain circumstances,
immigration law requires the
agency to apply federal law
in adjudicating these cases
[A]s a federal agency, we are
legally unable to make special
considerations in these cases
unless or until federal law is
changed."
Abta's immigration lawyer,
Ed Prudhomme, told JTA that
"to threaten to file a traffick-
ing felony charge against this
guy was just unconscionable,"
adding that 'having the charge
of felony trafficking would
be a forever bar" to Abta's re-
turning to the United States.
Prudhomme has filed an
appeal and asked that Abta's
case be reopened.
That, experts say, will be an
uphill battle.
"Now that he has left the
U.S it becomes much more
difficult for him to get permis-
sion to return," said Angle
Junck, supervising attorney
at the Immigrant Legal Re-
source Center, which advises
lawmakers and attorneys on
immigration policy. "It con-
cerns me that he accepted
his own removal You're
held to higher standards once
you leave."
Abta's case illustrates
"overreach and overcrimi-
nalization [of marijuana] at
the federal level, using it as
leverage against individuals,"
Junck said. This is "a very
difficult case. He has many
hurdles to overcome."
U.S. Customs and Border
Protection spokesman Jaime
Ruiz said that Abta can file a
complaint online about his
treatment by CBP officers or
at the U.S. Embassy in Israel.
CBP "officers treat all
travelers with integrity, re-
spect and professionalism.
CBP officers follow strict
national standards regarding
the transport and detention
of travelers deemed inadmis-
sible in the U.S " Ruiz wrote
in a statement. "The use of
restraints on detainees during
transport is conducted in a
manner that is safe, secure,
humane, and professional.
Without compromising their
safety, CBP officers remain
cognizant of an individual's
religious beliefs while ac-
complishing an enforcement
action in a dignified and re-
spectful manner. If a traveler
believes that CBP officers
acted unprofessionally, they
can file a complaint. CPB
tracks and records all com-
plaints and resolves them if
possible."
Another CPB employee told
JTA that handcuffing foreign
nationals deemed inadmis-
sible is "standard operating
procedure. You don't know
how they're going to react.
They might try to flee. Use of
restraints does not mean that
you have committed a crime.
It is a preventative measure."
Abta -- whose name ~n
Hebrew is pronounced Avta
and is occasionally spelled
that way by family members
-- first came to the U.S. in
April 2016 and lived in an
apartment rented by Tikun
Olam. Between then and
January 2017, when he mar-
ried, Abta made seven or eight
round trips between Las Vegas
and Israel on behalf of his
employer, he told JTA. Each
time he entered the United
States on a B-1 visa, issued
for work purposes, he told
border patrol agents he was
an agronomist for an Israeli
medical cannabis company.
"It was never a problem,"
Abta said.
A few months into his life
in the U.S one client, CW
Nevada, which has licensed
Tikun Olam's cultivation
technologies and intellectual
property, told Abta he needed
a Nevada state medical mari-
juana staff identification card
to be able to come into their
facilities. About a month after
filling out a simple form, Abta
received a state-issued medi-
cal marijuana staff ID. CW
Nevada is listed as a cultiva-
tion facility and his employer,
though he was never an em-
ployee there.
Abta and Prudhomme are
trying to get a letter from CW
and one from Tikun Olam
making clear his relation-
ship with each, they told JTA
in separate interviews. But
both companies are worried
about legal trouble and thus
far have left Abta out to dry,
Prudhomme said.
Abta said he quit Tikun
Olam in August. According
to Prudhomme, the company
said he was fired,
No official from CWNevada,
Tikun Olam Israel or Tikun
Olam USA responded to mul-
tiple requests for comment
sent over 10 days by email,
direct message and phone
message.
Once Abta married and
knew he would apply for a
green card, he returned to
Israel to close his apartment
because once individuals ap-
ply, they cannot leave the U.S.
until they are issued travel
documents.
Abta also claims he received
legally compromising counsel
from awoman he thoughtwas
an immigration lawyer. Abta
heard about Eugenia Schall
from an Israeli he met at a Las
Vegas restaurant, he told JTA,
and entrusted her to submit
his Green Card application.
Public records list Schall as
president of Coast to Coast
Visa & Immigration Service
in Valley Village, California.
Abta said Schall told him
he needed to submit a gov-
ernment-issued ID with the
paperwork. The only one he
had was the Nevada state
medical marijuana staff ID.
She submitted it.
But Schall is no attorney.
The company website, which
is mostly in Cyrillic, says
it gets people visas to Rus-
sia, Ukraine, Belarus and
Armenia.
"We are not attorneys and
are not a law firm. We do not
give legal advice," the website
says.
The company did not re-
spond to several phone and
email inquiries from JTA.
Had Abta "been working
with immigration attorneys
of good standing, they would
have advised him to provide
proof of status other than a
medical marijuana ID card,"
said cannabis industry analyst
John Kagia, executive vice
president of industry analytics
at New Frontier Data. "Given
that it's not recognized at
the federal level would raise
eyebrows and additional
scrutiny."
On Sept. 30, Abta had his
U.S.-issued travel document,
called an advance parole,
stolen from a Las Vegas hotel.
He filed a police report.
In December, his brother-
in-law contracted a life-
threatening neurological
disease and Abta rushed to
Israel to be with his family. He
wasn't supposed to leave the
country without the advance
parole card. He had a police
report but had not replaced
the card.
Upon returning to the
United States on Dec. 14,
Abta was questioned for sev-
eral hours by officials at the
San Francisco airport but
eventually released. The next
day was his first Green Card
interview. Five days later the
government issued its letter
of denial.
"I haven't heard of another
case -like this," Kagia said.
"The lack of familiarity with
legal cannabis within immi-
gration enforcement agencies
coupled with the proactively
aggressive approach that the
Department of Justice is tak-
ing means that participation
in this industry will be looked
at with greater scrutiny than
under previous administra-
tions."
Eitan Weiss, deputy chief of
mission at Israel's Los Angeles
consulate, said the consulate
cannot help Abta.
"This entire story is some-
thing we have no jurisdic-
tion over," Weiss told JTA. "I
can't come to the American
administration and say they
have mistreated him.',
He added: "The only thing
Israeli consulates can do is
help Israelis in case of emer-
gencies. We can't help them
more than that."
Now Abta is stuck in Israel
rather than living with his
wife of just a year Both say
they want only to be reunited.
Last year they bought a five-
bedroom Las Vegas house
hoping to fill it with children.
But that doesn't seem likely
anytime soon. Neither under-
stands why.
His wife said she has started
the process for making aliyah
with Nefesh B'Nefesh, an
agency that facilitates moves
to Israel, but doesn't really
want to go.
"I have to finish my studies
here," she told JTA. "And this
is my country."
She has started a Change.
org petition addressed to
President Donald Trump and
other elected officials. More
than 850 people signed the
petition in its first four days
online.
At his immigration in-
terviews, Abta "kept saying
he worked for a company in
Israel, didn't do anything in
America," his wife said. "He
was an expert witness on
multiple cases for the police
in Israel cracking down on
illegal marijuana.
"If my husband is being la-
beled a drug trafficker because
he had a marijuana staff card,
then what is everyone in the
state of Nevada?"
