The Gang's All Here

The Cato Institute has published a report indicating that at least 50 of those sent of to a notorious prison in El Salvador not only had no criminal record, but were actually in the country legally. But of course, that doesn’t address the allegations that they were gang members. And if they were (highly doubtful given the incompetence of this administration), should gang membership in and of itself be grounds for deportation? Based on how most people are discussing it, you’d think that it was illegal to belong to a gang. It isn’t. But it is grounds for deportation in an immigration court.

Since this is the case, it becomes important how we define a criminal gang. There are certainly obvious cases, like the cartels in Mexico, where the entire purpose of the group is to engage in a criminal activity, usually selling drugs and/or weapons. But what about idealogical groups, like the KKK and the Proud Boys, where the purpose is to promote certain ideas, and sometimes illegal methods are used to do so? Should these be considered criminal gangs? It gets tricky. Some groups use this distinction to claim they are merely ideological when in fact their real purpose is criminal. I’m not sure if the Proud Boys or the KKK fall into this category, but it’s easy to see how this could be the case. Of course, most of their members, including the violent ones, are born and bred in the USA, so would not be subject to immigration courts in any case.

Assuming immigration courts have properly defined what a gang is, there is still the issue of how to prove someone belongs to one. Most gangs are not handing out membership cards. We see how non-objective this can be with the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. What symbols are gang symbols? How do we know? And even in cases where the actual gang name is tattooed on somebody’s person (which is NOT the case with Abrego Garcia, despite what the president says), does that prove gang membership? Apparently, some people get such tattoos so as to be protected from violence by that gang, not because they themselves are members. I can even imagine stupid teenagers getting gang tattoos because they think it makes them look tough.

And then there’s the issue that people sometimes have a gang history that they have moved on from. Should they be punished for a past gang membership that they have since renounced? Many people have tattoos that they regret and plan to someday have removed.

Because we have freedom of association in this country, I am leaning towards the idea that mere “membership” in any group, even a gang, should not be grounds for deportation. In a just society, I think the government would need to prove a person actually violated someone else’s rights in order to deport him. On the other hand, if we are going to make gang membership grounds for deportation, we should have a pretty high bar of proof. I’m not sure that tattoos, in the absence of any other evidence, would qualify (though they might be important in addition to other things like establishing known associates). Again, this would all have to proven in court, and not simply asserted by ICE or the president.

Of course, the vast majority of our gang problems would disappear almost overnight if we decriminalized drugs. A few gangs might be able to survive as protection rackets, or by selling illegal weapons and/or sex trafficking, but most only exist because there is a steady demand for illegal substances. Sadly, decriminalization is not on the table. So for the foreseeable future, we will continue to be plagued by gangs. The problem did not start with immigration (either legal or illegal) and is not going to be solved by deportation. By all means, let’s lock up or send away actual foreign-born criminals, but let’s not kid ourselves about the impact this will have. Despite MAGA hysteria, crime rates have dramatically decreased over the past forty years (with a few blips, such as during the Covid lockdowns), even as the foreign-born percentage of the population has more than doubled. Immigrants are not the problem, and deporting “alleged” gang members, without due process or based on non-objective criteria, will only further erode the rule of law on which a free society depends. A lot of folks seem willing to sacrifice our liberties in order to gain security. But this is worse than a false alternative. You will not gain any meaningful security — but you will move us another step closer to an all-powerful government where individual rights are considered a quaint holdover from a more optimistic time.