State Police’s Secret Database Fuels Trump’s Deportation Campaign

For the last two decades, a largely unobserved operation has been taking place, whereby a database of prospective gang affiliates has been developed by state police. In a clandestine move, this information is being supplied to the presidency of Donald Trump. The Trump administration is using it to spearhead a campaign aimed at hundreds of immigrants, suspected to be gang members, and subsequently repatriating them to a feared Salvadoran jail. Through all this, New York state is inconspicuously nurturing a seedbed of gang-related data that could potentiate the expulsion apparatus.

Through diligent data collection, the New York State Police has assembled a repository of over 5,100 individuals presumed to be involved in gang-related activities. The specifics of the data serve as invaluable ammunition for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The foundation of this statewide database of gang members goes back two decades, and it continues to thrive while escaping public gaze and critique.

The state police methodically categorize people as gang operatives based on an array of parameters such as the places they frequent, their social connections, their attire, and their bodily tattoos. Every law enforcement body within the state acquires the privileges to add data points to this repository. Along with assigning names to the database, state police also ferry them to a national database that feeds directly into the primary ICE case management toolkit.

The repository currently marks 225 putative criminal gangs. The operations of the statewide gang database have never been critiqued by an external entity. These revelations surfaced in a time when gang-related law enforcement has become a highly controversial topic while being deeply influenced by political motivations.

The Trump government has used alleged affiliations with transnational gang networks as grounds for an expansive expulsion operation. This clandestine campaign has resulted in numerous Venezuelan males, some not even remotely associated with gangs, being airlifted to an infamous Salvadoran jail. This brutal action has heavily relied on the kind of intelligence that the state police utilised for spotting possible gang elements.

Parallelly, there is an ongoing dispute between the New York City Council and its police department. The contention is centered around a proposition that seeks to dismantle the NYPD’s database on gang members, an initiative that has been accused of perpetuating racial profiling and over-surveillance. The state police’s database, which was established in 2005, has expanded under the governance of Governor Kathy Hochul. This expansion was expedited by the addition of millions to the state police intelligence budget.

The governor voiced her objection to the mass deportation drive last month, stating unequivocally, ‘We’re not going to allow this mass deportation.’ However, the public remains largely unaware of this comprehensive database. It is mentioned briefly in the agency’s annual reports under the acronym GRIP, which stands for Gang Reporting and Intelligence Program.

Over the last few years, the spotlight has been turned on gang databases, pushing them under significant public scrutiny. Civil liberties advocates expressed serious concern about the existence of a New York State Police database that has been quietly collecting information for two decades.

The effectiveness and accuracy of these databases have been called into question. Most of these databases operate in a hushed manner, concealing large-scale inaccuracies, promoting racial bias, including minors, and exploiting minor offences to string together substantial criminal cases.

Being listed in a gang database opens up the potential for considerable ramifications. For the ordinary citizen, accessing the gang databases is an uphill task unless it becomes part of a court proceeding. In such situations, the alleged association with organized crime is often put forth by the authorities to argue for more stringent charges or increased sentences.

Before individuals are apprehended, these databases are used to select them for surveillance and interrogation. Part of the debate around the disbandment of NYPD’s gang database revolves around the possible sharing of its data with ICE through formal or informal collaborative initiatives between local and federal law enforcement agencies.

Various media sources have recently highlighted that the Trump administration employs questionable evidence to tag immigrants as gang associates. The state police also use similar dubious methods. Symbols in the form of tattoos and specific clothing items are often positioned as indicators of association with criminal outfits such as MS-13 or Tren de Aragua.

Family members of recently deported individuals have reported that these seemingly nonsequential symbols were used as justifications for supposed gang links. Overall, an issue of civil liberty violations and racial profiling looms over these practices, necessitating a thorough examination and reformation.