Except it’s only available for a tiny few of cases. It’s granted to deportees who have direct family members—no second cousins allowed—in the U.S. willing to sponsor them. It’s for people that have committed crimes of moral turpitude that are not aggravated felonies. That is, people who were convicted of crimes that did not result in a sentence of more than a year. So we’re talking robbery, shoplifting, smaller property crimes. Except the I-212 waiver excludes drug crimes. So even if you were convicted of a relatively minor drug crime like possession of a bit of cocaine you’re out. Even the possession of drug paraphernalia, a syringe, for example, makes you ineligible for the I-212.

But the vast majority of people deported to Jamaica for criminal convictions—over 70 percent—are deported because of drug offenses. And we all know that Black men at every stage of the game are stopped, arrested, convicted, and sentenced more harshly for drug crimes than their white counterparts. And so Black men who aren’t citizens become automatically deportable at a higher rate than, say, their white immigrant drug crime-committing counterparts.

The law itself might not have racist intentions, but its outcomes make it so that people of color are hurt worse. I see that at so many stages of the criminal justice and immigration systems, and I see it even here, with the I-212, the one distant light many deportees hang their hopes on.

You know what else they’re holding out hope for? President Obama. These deportees are looking forward to upcoming immigration reform in the U.S. They want to know what Obama’s going to do to help them get back to the lives they were forced to leave behind.

What is the power of the I-212 rumor? I suppose hoping is the way we make it through awful situations. For many deportees, believing in the possibility of justice—be it in the form of the I-212 or the president, is how they survive.