ICE is tracking immigrants with the help of California sanctuary cities, court records show

An automated license plate reader is mounted on the back of an unmarked police car in Washington, D.C., in 2014. Civil rights groups in California want police and sheriff’s departments to stop sending license plate scanner information to a national private database, saying new public documents show federal immigration agents are using the system in breach of sanctuary state and city laws. The collection of more than 1,000 pages of contracts, emails, manuals and other materials shows some California law enforcement departments have granted ICE unfettered access to the personal data of drivers and that federal officials are using it to track and locate immigrants in the country illegally who might not have criminal records and could be protected under the state’s sanctuary and privacy policies. California’s “sanctuary state” law, which went into effect last year, prevents local police and sheriff’s departments from sharing information about the people they arrest, question and detain with federal law enforcement and immigration agencies unless a suspect has a prior criminal conviction from a list of more than 800 felony and misdemeanor crimes. “ICE personnel check the information against other investigative information, including information from government systems, before taking any action against the individual.” Talla said the records revealed how law enforcement agencies in sanctuary cities and counties, which also limit collaboration between local government and federal immigration agencies, have little control over the information they share into the private database.