As President Donald Trump’s administration ramped up efforts to deport immigrants identified as gang members, New York state has been quietly feeding federal authorities information that could bolster these aggressive deportation strategies.
The New York State Police operate a gang database containing over 5,100 individuals whom they categorize as gang members.
This information finds its way into a federal database utilized by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The statewide gang database has been in existence for 20 years, yet it has remained largely unnoticed and scrutinized.
Individuals can be labeled as gang members even if they have never been arrested, based on speculative criteria such as social circles, clothing, tattoos, and behaviors.
The State Police spokesperson indicated that any law enforcement agency in New York can contribute entries to this database.
As names are added, the State Police simultaneously submit these entries to a federal gang file, creating a direct pipeline to ICE’s case management system.
Currently, the database lists 225 alleged criminal gangs, and it has not undergone any external audit for verification.
Despite sharing this information with ICE for approximately two decades, the practice is now particularly risky given the Trump administration’s apparent disregard for due process.
The administration has employed claims of connections to transnational gangs to justify mass deportations—an approach that echoes the intelligence used by New York State Police to designate individuals as gang members.
At the same time, the New York City Council and police department are in conflict over proposed legislation that seeks to dissolve the NYPD’s own gang database, which has faced longstanding criticism for promoting racial profiling.
While the State Police database has avoided significant scrutiny, it has expanded under Governor Kathy Hochul, who has directed millions of dollars toward State Police intelligence efforts, including enhancements for gang surveillance and monitoring social media.
Hochul has delivered mixed messages regarding her stance on immigration enforcement.
She expressed a commitment to resisting Trump’s deportation policies, even while some of her law enforcement initiatives may inadvertently support them.
“We’re not going to allow this mass deportation,” she stated recently, although acknowledging that some counties have agreements with ICE.
She emphasized that the State Police, under her control, would not participate in immigration enforcement efforts.
The existence of New York’s statewide gang database is not publicized, with the agency’s annual reports briefly mentioning it by its acronym: GRIP, which stands for the Gang Reporting and Intelligence Program.
Babe Howell, a noted expert in gang policing, admitted she was unaware of the database’s existence, and she was not alone; several other experts and activists also lacked knowledge about it.
The operation of such gang databases has faced intensifying scrutiny, particularly concerning civil liberties.
Critics voiced concerns about how the New York State Police’s operation of a gang database could potentially impact immigration enforcement, which has already seen alarming trends.
“This is really enabling the worst of the abuses that are unfolding right now,” said Albert Fox Cahn, director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, highlighting the contradiction in state leaders decrying Trump’s policies while simultaneously facilitating them.
Police officials argue that databases like these help facilitate “precision policing,” designed to efficiently target individuals and groups engaged in violent crime or illegal conduct.
However, research has shown that these databases lack precision and often reinforce systemic biases.
Insights from gang databases in places like New York City, California, and Washington, D.C., revealed widespread inaccuracies, racial profiling, and inclusion of minors.
Being placed in a gang database can lead to dire consequences, including challenges in disputing one’s inclusion and increased legal penalties, particularly during prosecutions where alleged gang affiliation can influence the charges.
The police often rely on these databases for surveillance and questioning, with documented cases noting thousands of stops annually involving individuals listed in the gang database.
The route for information from this statewide gang database to ICE is notably clear, with the State Police’s method of sharing entries with federal authorities facilitating immediate access for immigration enforcement agents.
NYSIC, which manages the database, was founded post-September 11 as part of an initiative to improve information sharing among law enforcement entities.
This center uploads entries to a federal gang file accessible by agencies including ICE, epitomizing the fusion of local, state, and federal law enforcement data.
The relationship involves not just sharing lists, but also relies on systems that provide rapid access to comprehensive data for ICE agents.
Notably, a contract was awarded to Palantir, a data-mining company co-founded by Peter Thiel, to develop a system that integrates various law enforcement information streams, enhancing ICE’s capability to act on available data.
Reports highlight that under the Trump administration, spurious criteria were frequently used to label immigrants as gang members, paralleling the tactics of the State Police.
For example, families impacted by the federal deportation campaign relayed experiences where agents misidentified individuals based on innocuous tattoos or clothing associated with no verified gang relevance.
A striking instance includes a tattoo meant to promote autism awareness, which was misinterpreted as a sign of gang involvement.
A state intelligence report noted that these broader symbols, often used in charity contexts, could correlate to membership in gangs, illustrating the flawed reasoning that permeates these designations.
Reporting revealed that ICE labelled individuals as belonging to gang-affiliated groups based on casual clothing associations or cultural symbols, demonstrating the unfounded basis for many entries in gang databases.
Highlighting similar cases, analysts noted that cultural items like sports team logos could be misconstrued by law enforcement as gang affiliations, further exacerbating the problem of mistaken identities in gang databases.
Adding to the systemic flaws, NYSIC has adopted vague criteria aligned with federal gang file standards to classify individuals as gang-associated.
Criteria for acceptance into the state gang database allow officers to attribute gang membership based on unreliable factors that promote a broad net of identification.
State Police documentation indicates that suspected gang affiliation can be declared based on mere presence in known gang territories, friendships with categorized gang members, or style choices reflecting gang norms.
Moreover, unproven informants can lead to an individual’s classification as a gang member if their claims are corroborated to any degree, highlighting inadequate verification processes.
Experts emphasize that the methods behind these databases yield biased outcomes that disproportionately impact young Black and Latino men, with much of the NYPD’s gang database reflecting a similar racial disparity.
Although the New York State Police did not possess racial demographic data for its listings, critics believe that such databases facilitate systemic racism and discrimination.
When addressing concerns regarding racial profiling, the State Police spokesperson rejected the characterization, maintaining the integrity of their operations and the validity of their methods.
Over the past decade, approximately 1,000 names have been added to the NYSIC gang database annually, highlighting an ongoing trend of growth.
Despite federal regulations necessitating periodic review of gang database entries, the current total remains above the threshold for reasonable maintenance, underscoring systemic issues in record keeping and accountability.
In light of increasing concerns about transparency and fairness, NYSIC has received enhanced funding targeted at its surveillance capabilities under Governor Hochul’s recent fiscal policies.
Significant allocations in the 2022 state budget reflected efforts to enhance intelligence collection, including investments in social media monitoring aimed at potential threats, indicating a prioritization of surveillance as a strategy to identify gang-related activity.
Despite the state’s investment in policing technology, the governor’s spokesperson reaffirmed their commitment to combating serious crime while also voicing concern for the impact on families and communities, reiterating support for law enforcement initiatives and partnerships with federal agencies.
As the conversation around policing and immigration enforcement evolves, the depth of New York’s statewide gang database and its repercussions continue to solicit debate on civil liberties and ethical policing practices.
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