May, 16 2018, 12:00am EDT
NEW REPORT: Trump Admin Flouts Rule of Law, Falsely Uses "Gang Affiliation" to Profile Young Immigrants of Color
Immigration advocates sue ICE for FOIA records.
New York, NY
The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) and the Immigrant and Non-Citizen Rights Clinic (INRC) at the CUNY School of Law today released a new report, Swept up in the Sweep: The Impact of Gang Allegations on Immigrant New Yorkers. The report details the Trump administration's using supposed-gang enforcement to carry out punitive immigration policies. Through an extensive field study, the report shows how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with other federal agencies and law enforcement, uses arbitrary methods to profile immigrant youth of color to allege gang affiliation. As a result, immigrant youth are detained for prolonged periods, have had their visa applications denied, and have faced deportation without proper due process.
The NYIC is filing a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York to compel ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to disclose information regarding Operation Matador (more information below). ICE denied a previous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
"The Trump administration is using the ongoing gang violence as a pretext to profile and detain immigrant youth. A backwards baseball cap is not an excuse for a backwards immigration policy. New York will be safer if law enforcement can build trust in our immigrant communities, rather than instill fear in immigrants of being arbitrarily labeled and locked up," said Anu Joshi, Director of Immigration Policy at the New York Immigration Coalition.
"Our research shows that little so-called 'proof' such as the color of one's clothes, the bodega they bought their lunch at, or the shape of a tattoo can be used by the U.S. government to justify a gang allegation and deport aspiring Americans. By carelessly painting large swaths of New York's Latinx immigrants as gang members, the U.S. government has again used threats and fear as justification for the erosion of the constitutional and civil rights of communities of color," said Nermeen Arastu, Clinical Professor & Co-Director of the Immigrant and Non-Citizen Rights Clinic at the CUNY School of Law.
"We are seeing ICE and local law enforcement work together in broad sweeps without any evidence of criminal activity and no basis for suspicion other than ethnicity. As a result of these sweeps, police are acting on behalf of ICE to pick up individuals with no criminal history. In many cases, there is no basis for criminal charges, and rather than release them, the police hand these unlawfully detained individuals over to ICE. The partnership between ICE and local law enforcement, allows each agency to act where the other's powers are restricted, resulting in violations of due process and fundamental rights," said Emily Torstveit Ngara, Visiting Associate Clinical Professor and Director of the Deportation Defense Clinic at Hofstra School of Law.
"Gang databases are purely based on stereotypes. Gang databases do not require any criminal background or even proof of gang membership, instead include being seen with neighbors, friends or families; observed in local bodegas or restaurants or parks; and social media and video content. There are no notices and checks to assure accuracy of these databases. Relying on these gang databases for immigration or detention decisions violates due process, equal protection, and adherence to fact-based decision making," said Babe Howell, professor at CUNY School of Law.
"For over a decade, we have seen the shattering impact of the government's post-9/11 'anti-terrorism' policies, which has labelled immigrants as 'national security threats' based on nothing more than their nationality, ethnicity, or religion. Today, the Trump administration distorts MS-13 to justify enhanced immigration enforcement against innocent Latinx New Yorkers - labeling many as 'gang members' based on scant evidence and overbroad criteria. These policies have clear devastating impacts: indefinite detention, permanent banishment, distrust, trampled civil liberties, and absent of enhanced safety," said Talia Peleg, Visiting Clinical Law Professor in the Immigrant and Non-Citizen Rights Clinic at the CUNY School of Law.
The report's findings are based on survey responses from practicing attorneys, advocates, and community leaders throughout New York State.
Report highlights:
- 78% of service providers report that law enforcement made gang related allegations against immigrant clients or community members.
- 50% of service providers report that law enforcement makes such allegations "on the streets" and 33% indicate home raids.
- Law enforcement uses questionable criteria to claim that Latinx individuals are gang members: wearing certain kinds of clothes, doodling in school notebooks, or living in high gang activity neighborhoods.
- The "evidence" is often uncorroborated and would not meet evidentiary standards in a criminal court, although the threshold is lower in immigration court.
- Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice have used gang allegations to deny asylum or legal permanent residency, and justify the detention and deportation of Latinx youth.
In the coming weeks, we will be releasing a toolkit for immigration lawyers representing clients accused of gang affiliation and Know Your Rights materials for community members.
Background
Operation Matador is an ICE program which targets immigrants affiliated with the gang MS-13, based predominantly on Long Island and in the Lower Hudson Valley. It uses specific criteria to loosely define "gang affiliation" and effectively profile immigrant youth of color. For the past few months, the NYIC and the INRC have worked to gather information from immigration legal service providers on how ICE is carrying out gang enforcement on Long Island. Together, the NYIC and the INRC have noticed that gang enforcement is often used as a pretext to arrest immigrants or deny applications for benefits.
For example, ICE agents and local law enforcement lead a pre-dawn raid against a man who was suspected of being armed and in MS-13, but was subsequently detained for entering the country illegally. Gang membership in itself is not illegal, the arresting officers did not have a criminal warrant, and only BB guns and pellet guns were found inside.
Six months ago, the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) filed requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for documents relating to Operation Matador, an ICE program that partners with federal, state, and local law enforcement to target gang members. The FOIA was submitted to the following agencies: ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Suffolk and Nassau County Police Departments, and the New York City Police Department (NYPD)
ICE denied the request for information, CBP provided limited information, and USCIS has yet to give a satisfactory response.
The New York Immigration Coalition aims to achieve a fairer and more just society that values the contributions of immigrants and extends opportunity to all. The NYIC promotes immigrants' full civic participation, fosters their leadership, and provides a unified voice and a vehicle for collective action for New York's diverse immigrant communities.
LATEST NEWS
State of Emergency Declared After Cargo Ship Destroys Baltimore Bridge
Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin said he was "deeply concerned for the safety and well-being of everyone affected by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore."
Mar 26, 2024
This is a developing story... Please check back for possible updates...
A state of emergency was declared in Maryland early Tuesday morning after a large cargo ship slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore leading to its total collapse and sending a still unverified number of vehicles and people into the Patapsco River.
As the Baltimore Sunreports:
In a Tuesday morning news conference, just a few hours after the incident, Baltimore Fire Department Chief James Wallace said authorities are "still very much in an active search and rescue posture" noting they are searching for "upwards of seven individuals" and that sonar has detected the presence of vehicles in the water. There is no indication that the event was intentional, Wallace said.
"This is a tragedy that you could never imagine … It looked like something out of an action movie," Mayor Brandon Scott said.
The terrifying footage of the bridge's collapse—which CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez commented was "almost unbelievable" to watch—is circulating widely on news channels and social media:
This video is almost unbelievable. The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore literally collapsed this morning after it was struck by this large ship. pic.twitter.com/rYuy4U2r7H
— Omar Jimenez (@OmarJimenez) March 26, 2024
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Tuesday that he had spoken with Mayor Scott and well as Maryland Governor Wes Moore and was helping to coordinate federal assistance.
"Rescue efforts remain underway and drivers in the Baltimore area should follow local responder guidance on detours and response," said Buttigieg.
Moore said in a statement he had declared a state of emergency and that work was underway to "quickly deploy federal resources" to the area.
"We are thankful for the brave men and women who are carrying out efforts to rescue those involved and pray for everyone's safety," said Moore. "We will remain in close contact with federal, state, and local entities that are carrying out rescue efforts as we continue to assess and respond to this tragedy."
Kevin Cartwright of the Baltimore Fire Department told CNN that the number of missing people may be higher than reported in other outlets. "Unfortunately," said Cartwright, "we understand that there were up to 20 individuals who may be in the Patapsco River right now as well as multiple vehicles."
Early reporting indicated that no crew members aboard the container ship, which sails under a Singapore flag, were injured or missing. A local harbor pilot was also said to be on board at the time of the crash.
"Deeply concerned for the safety and well-being of everyone affected by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore," said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) following the accident. "I'm profoundly thankful to first responders on the scene and will track rescue efforts by local, state, and federal authorities."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Grave 'Threat to Journalists' Remains as UK Court Delays Assange Extradition Ruling
"The Biden administration should take the opportunity to drop this dangerous case once and for all," said the executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Mar 26, 2024
The United Kingdom's High Court ruled Tuesday that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cannot immediately be extradited to the United States and gave the Biden administration three weeks to provide "assurances" that the publisher's First Amendment rights will be protected and that he won't face the death penalty.
If the U.S. does not provide the requested assurances, Assange will be allowed to pursue a limited appeal of his extradition. Should the U.S. submit assurances by the April 16 deadline, a hearing will be held on May 20 to determine whether they are "satisfactory."
Assange, whose health has deteriorated badly during his five years in a high-security London jail, faces 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act and a possible 175-year prison sentence in the U.S. for publishing classified information—a common journalistic practice. WikiLeaks disclosures exposed grave U.S. and U.K. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Press freedom and human rights groups say the extradition of Assange to the U.S. would set a dangerous precedent and pose a dire threat to journalism everywhere.
Trevor Timm, executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said in a statement Tuesday that "we are glad Julian Assange is not getting extradited today."
"But this legal battle is far from over, and the threat to journalists and the news media from the Espionage Act charges against Assange remains," said Timm. "Assange's conviction in American courts would create a dangerous precedent that the U.S. government can and will use against reporters of all stripes who expose its wrongdoing or embarrass it. The Biden administration should take the opportunity to drop this dangerous case once and for all."
"It's long past time for the U.S. Justice Department to abandon the Espionage Act charges and resolve this case."
The U.S., which has been aggressively pursuing Assange's extradition for years, previously provided the U.K. government with assurances that Assange would not be held at a supermax prison that's notorious for its inhumane treatment of inmates.
Human rights groups have said such assurances from the U.S. government are "inherently unreliable" and should not be taken seriously by British authorities.
"While the U.S. has allegedly assured the U.K. that it will not violate Assange's rights, we know from past cases that such 'guarantees' are deeply flawed—and the diplomatic assurances so far in the Assange case are riddled with loopholes," noted Simon Crowther, legal adviser at Amnesty International.
"The U.S. must stop its politically motivated prosecution of Assange, which puts Assange and media freedom at risk worldwide," Crowther said Tuesday. "In trying to imprison him, the U.S. is sending an unambiguous warning to publishers and journalists everywhere that they too could be targeted and that it is not safe for them to receive and publish classified material—even if doing so is in the public interest."
Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, echoed that message, saying in a statement that "prosecuting Assange for the publication of classified information would have profound implications for press freedom, because publishing classified information is what journalists and news organizations often need to do in order to expose wrongdoing by government."
"It's long past time for the U.S. Justice Department to abandon the Espionage Act charges and resolve this case," said Jaffer.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Sanders Rips 'Absurd' US Claim That Israel Is Not Violating International Law
"The State Department's position makes a mockery of U.S. law and assurances provided to Congress," said Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Mar 26, 2024
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday said the U.S. State Department's determination that Israel is not violating international law with its assault on the Gaza Strip is "absurd on its face," pointing to the mass death, destruction, and starvation that Israeli forces have inflicted on the territory's population over the past six months.
"Thirty-two thousand Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and almost 75,000 injured, two-thirds of whom are women and children," Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement. "Some 60% of the housing units have been damaged or destroyed, and almost all medical facilities have been made inoperable. Today, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children are facing starvation because [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu won't let in sufficient humanitarian aid, while thousands of trucks are waiting to get into Gaza."
"The State Department's position," said Sanders, "makes a mockery of U.S. law and assurances provided to Congress."
The senator's statement came after State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters during a press briefing earlier Monday that the Biden administration has not found Israel "to be in violation of international humanitarian law, either when it comes to the conduct of the war or when it comes to the provision of humanitarian assistance."
Miller was responding to a question about assurances the administration has received from the Israeli government that its use of American weaponry has complied with international law and that it has permitted U.S. humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, where the entire population is facing acute hunger.
Under a new Biden administration policy known as NSM-20, recipients of American military aid are required to provide the U.S. government with "credible and reliable" written assurances that they are using such assistance "in a manner consistent with all applicable international and domestic law and policy."
Late last week, a group of U.S. senators—including Sanders—warned the Biden administration that deeming Israeli assurances credible would "be inconsistent with the letter and spirit of NSM-20" and "establish an unacceptable precedent" for the application of the policy "in other situations around the world."
"Until Biden is ready to impose real policy consequences on Netanyahu's government, the famine will continue."
It is a violation of U.S. law to continue sending military assistance to a country that is obstructing the delivery of American humanitarian aid. Last month, far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich blocked a U.S.-funded flour shipment from entering the Gaza Strip, and Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on convoys attempting to deliver aid to desperate Gazans.
Prominent human rights groups have been calling on the U.S. to impose an arms embargo on Israel for months, pointing to documented examples of the Israeli military using American weaponry to commit atrocities in Gaza.
But the Biden administration has refused to even apply concrete restrictions on American military aid. Over the weekend, U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law a measure that approves $3.8 billion in unconditional military assistance for the Israeli government and imposes a one-year ban on funding for the primary humanitarian aid organization in Gaza.
Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International and a former USAID official, said Monday that Israel's assurances to the U.S. are "not remotely credible" and argued the Biden administration is undermining efforts to combat the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza by accepting the Israeli government's claims.
The U.S., he said, is "talking a big game about fighting the famine that its bombs and diplomatic cover have helped create." Resorting to "gimmicky" efforts such as airdrops and temporary ports while a U.S. ally obstructs humanitarian aid "is not how you fight a famine," Konyndyk argued.
"Fundamentally Biden must choose: between continuing to enable Netanyahu, or ending the famine. There's no way to split the difference," said Konyndyk. "Until Biden is ready to impose real policy consequences on Netanyahu's government, the famine will continue."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular