The ex-Vancouver man is being deported on drug charges and is aiming to re-enter the United States following Blake’s decision

John, whose real name Crosscut is not used to get legal relief from his earlier allegations, exemplifies the extent of the ramifications of the Blake decision. By finding that criminalized drug possession was ruled unconstitutional because prosecutors had no intention of demonstrating intent, the state’s Supreme Court stripped the law of its teeth. In addition, the decision meant that any previous convictions under this 1970s law would also have to be reconsidered.

Washington law recently passed law making drug possession a crime. Governor Jay Inslee signed it on Thursday. However, this law cannot be applied retrospectively, meaning that for those convicted of drug possession, the effects of Blake will be permanent.

For John, this could mean his previous allegations go away.

Blake “definitely opens the doors to people who have a deportation warrant or have been removed from the country,” said Kevin Hollinz, an attorney for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.

John’s family moved from Korea to Hawaii to Vancouver, Washington as a baby in the early 1970s.

Growing up, John said, no one in his family sought citizenship because it didn’t feel important. “It wasn’t that big of a deal to people because I was a permanent resident,” he said on the phone from Korea. As legal residents, the family had only one limitation in their daily life – they could not choose. “Even my parents didn’t get citizenship until after I was deported,” he said.