In a test case of the ongoing conflicts between federal and state marijuana statutes, a cannabis software firm wants a U.S. judge to override immigration authorities who denied an employee a visa on the grounds that his work “aided and abetted activities related to violations of federal drug laws.”
According to filings in U.S. District Court in Northern California, Ameya Vinayak Pethe, an Indian national, sought an H-1B visa to work in the United States as the director of development operations for Treez, a software platform for cannabis businesses.
According to the court documents, San Francisco Bay Area-based Treez had sought similar visas many times in the past.
Like the previous times, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services – a Department of Homeland Security agency- approved Pethe’s visa in January 2022.
All was well until Treez sought to alter Pethe’s visa for him to work in Pennsylvania instead of Missouri.
That’s when immigration authorities “reversed course,” invoked an “Illegality Rule” (sic) and denied Pethe’s visa.
Federal authorities cited federal drug laws, noting that Treez provides software to state-regulated companies that break federal marijuana and claiming they “cannot approve a petition based on employment that violates a federal or state law,” according to records.
Treez sued on Nov. 9, 2022, but the case is pending.
In new court filings submitted last week, attorneys for the company claimed immigration authorities have failed to produce documents explaining their reasoning – and why it changed – despite a court order to do so.
A Sept. 18 filing for summary judgment in the case is scheduled to be heard Oct. 24, according to a docket.
A trial date is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 13.
