New CIS report on “Gang” enforcement

A new Center for Immigration Studies Backgrounder finds that immigration law enforcement has been highly effective in fighting gang activity around the country. Local law enforcement agencies that shun involvement with immigration law enforcement are missing an opportunity to protect their communities, according to the authors. That report, which was funded by DOJ, is available online.

Of course, what the authors will not tell you is how expansive the definition of gang member has become under ICE’s definition such that anyone who associates with potential gang members, including family and friends, are included.  Nor do you learn in this study that ICE’s enforcement tactics are terrorizing Brown communities especially and separating families. For an excellent critique of ICE’s gang enforcement, see Jennifer Chacon, Whose Community Shield?:  Examining the Removal of the “Criminal Street Gang Member,” 2007 U. Chi. Legal F. 317 (2007).

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