Law enforcement's methods for establishing "gang affiliation” to crack down on alleged MS-13 gang members have exacerbated the arrest, detention and deportation of young immigrants in New York regardless of proven criminal activity, a newly published report shows.
The report “Swept up in the Sweep: The Impact of Gang Allegations on Immigrant New Yorkers,” authored by the New York Immigration Coalition and the Immigrant and Non-Citizen Rights Clinic at the CUNY School of Law, details ways in which law enforcement uses what experts call “arbitrary methods” to profile immigrant youth of color by establishing gang affiliation.