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NIJC, July 14, 2022
"The U.S. immigration system routinely detains and deports immigrants on the basis of an arrest or criminal conviction — tearing them away from livelihood, family and community. The weighty decision of who to detain and deport often turns on the contents of a single document: a police report.
NIJC analyzed the use of police reports in immigration decision-making, surveying our own legal teams and other legal service providers throughout the country. This analysis confirmed that, despite the criminal legal system’s recognition that police reports are prejudicial and unreliable, immigration decision-makers routinely operate on the assumption that they are accurate — with life altering consequences.
The reliance on police reports in the immigration system disproportionately harms Black and Brown immigrants. Black and Brown people are disproportionately stopped, arrested, and racially profiled in the criminal legal system. They are, therefore, more likely to have prior police reports – including those connected with baseless arrests. Implicit racial biases also affect police’s interpretation of events during interactions. These racial biases infect police reports, which are then used in the immigration system to make detention and deportation decisions.
Despite this inherent unreliability, immigration judges and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers regularly rely on police reports when making discretionary adjudications and decisions, including whether to engage in an enforcement action, whether or how long to detain someone, and whether to grant asylum or other relief from removal.
When NIJC client Samuel was arrested, the police officer who drafted the police report could not speak Spanish to communicate with the alleged victim and witnesses. Instead, he used Google Translate and a bilingual minor who lived nearby to translate. Despite knowing this, the immigration judge provided great weight to this unreliable police report. This unjust reliance on police reports significantly impacted Samuel’s request for asylum.
Luis spent months in immigration detention because the immigration judge at his bond hearing refused to believe that the allegations in the police report from a recent arrest were false. The police report falsely alleged Luis to be driving under the influence, when in fact he was a passenger. Luis’s unnecessary detention separated him from his wife and daughter.
DOJ & DHS should:
The overuse of inherently unreliable and prejudicial police reports throughout the immigration system violates fundamental notions of due process, egregiously prejudices immigrants, and exacerbates racial bias. NIJC urges the Biden administration to take immediate steps to mitigate these harms.
Download this explainer (PDF)
Read the full policy brief (PDF)"