Back in January, Justin Bieber’s arrest for driving under the influence, resisting arrest, and driving without a valid driver’s license sparked a petition to deport the Canadian singer. Today the White House finally responded to the petition, saying, “Sorry to disappoint, but we won’t be commenting on this one.”
The petition, titled “Deport Justin Bieber and revoke his green card,” was created Jan. 23 and received 237,968 signatures, which is almost triple the amount needed to require a response by the White House.
The White House’s statement adds, “The We the People terms of participation state that, ‘to avoid the appearance of improper influence, the White House may decline to address certain procurement, law enforcement, adjudicatory, or similar matters properly within the jurisdiction of federal departments or agencies, federal courts, or state and local government in its response to a petition.’ So we’ll leave it to others to comment on Mr. Bieber’s case, but we’re glad you care about immigration issues. Because our current system is broken.”
The response did not say anything more about the singer’s legal issues. Instead, it went on to discuss immigration reform. “Independent economists say immigration reform will grow our economy and shrink our deficits by almost $1 trillion in the next 20 years. For those of you counting at home, that’s 12.5 billion concert tickets—or 100 billion copies of Mr. Bieber’s debut album. You better believe it.”
The response concludes with: “While we weren’t able to address your direct concerns about Mr. Bieber, we hope you believe our We the People experience was a positive one.”
Bieber tweeted Sunday to express how he’s a changed man and gave some advice to his fans:
This is my time off but my mind is alway running. Learned a lot this past year thru trial & error but that is life. Excited for what’s next
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) April 21, 2014
Always push yourself to be better than the day before
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) April 21, 2014
The pop star is scheduled to go to trial May 5 for his January arrest and has plead not guilty.
