In 2007, Crystal Munoz was mothering a four-month-old and pregnant with her second daughter when DEA agents arrived at her Texas home. When she opened the door, Crystal had no idea that answering a few questions would lead to a 20-year prison sentence for marijuana. Her only crime, she says, was drawing a map of a ranch road in Texas's Big Bend National Park, a road that was later used to transport marijuana from Mexico into Texas.
Crystal has spent nearly a decade in prison, and her daughters have grown from newborns to toddlers to adolescents in her absence. She's missed every single birthday as well as first smiles, first steps, and first days of school. Both daughters are now nine; her oldest will turn ten in February. By then, Crystal will know whether the outgoing president—who has admitted to previously smoking marijuana and has publicly stated that it should be treated as a public health issue similar to cigarettes or alcohol—will reconsider her request for clemency. She knows this is probably her last chance to reunite with her children before they're young adults, as Trump's presidency looms ever closer.
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