Even if cities stop sharing arrest information, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been known to send plainclothes agents to local courts, where they wait for immigrants to appear for misdemeanor charges. Tracking and sorting millions of people is precisely where Immigration and Customs Enforcement needs local help. Some cities are already taking steps to ease draconian policing. Mayor de Blasio must continue to retreat from his predecessor’s overly aggressive enforcement of so-called quality-of-life offenses; other cities should do the same. Until cities reject the failed thinking that led to mass incarceration, local police and prosecutors will be doing the legwork for mass deportation.

Source: New York Times February 15, 2017 08:15 UTC