Trump’s Mass Deportations Start With Our Data—Here’s How We Stop Him

Victor Guillén Febres is a program strategist at United We Dream.

President-elect Donald Trump’s plans are clear: to tear apart millions of American families and communities across the United States. From pledges to carry out mass deportations and threats to end birthright citizenship to efforts to target Black, Brown, and Indigenous people in churches, schools, hospitals, and workplaces, his administration appears determined to racially profile, detain, and separate families in the very places where we live, work, and pray.

Behind these horrific plans and threats to basic civil rights lies something immigration enforcement agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) desperately need: personal data.

ICE has a long history of using covert tactics to obtain sensitive information from public and private databases, violating the fundamental right to privacy. Previous reporting shows ICE’s track record for bullying schools, abortion clinics, and even newsrooms into handing over personal data using shady administrative subpoenas that exceed its authority and can’t be enforced without a judicial order. ICE also partners with local and state police through 287(g) agreements and so-called law enforcement “fusion centers” to mine police databases. And when that’s not enough, they buy up personal data from shady, for-profit companies like Clear, LexisNexis, Venntel, and Babel Street—skirting due process and trampling over our constitutional rights.

This data, combined with facial recognition software and other surveillance and biometric technologies, are part and parcel of ICE’s arsenal to mass surveil our communities, pinpoint people’s whereabouts, and violently target our communities—practices that frequently result in racial profiling, wrongful arrests, and fractured families.

Sharing and selling personal data to terrorize and tear apart communities is not only evil, it is a full-fledged attack on privacy and freedom—plain and simple.

With only days before President-elect Trump takes office, there is no time to waste for state and local officials, schools, and employers to use every tool at their disposal to shut ICE out and cut off access to the personal data they rely on to target our communities. Here’s how:

State and Local Governments:

State and local governments must stop sharing personal information with ICE—and should pursue legislation making it illegal to simply hand over data or use public resources, like staff and facilities, to support immigration enforcement. States and cities can block ICE from entering sensitive spaces where families gather, like schools, hospitals, and courts, without a proper judicial order. State and local governments can give residents the power to remove their data from public and private databases, ban the collection of immigration status data by government offices and companies, and require clear, explicit consent for any data collection or sharing. California’s Values Act and Consumer Protection Laws, as well as Santa Ana Sanctuary Ordinances, are all good examples of what can be done at the state and local levels.

Advocates can pressure state and local officials to go even further by banning invasive surveillance technologies—like facial recognition software, license plate readers, and stingray devices that track people’s movements. They can also end shady deals with companies that profit off personal data by cutting off contracts and disclosing how public data is collected, shared, and sold. Massachusetts and Illinois have successfully passed laws that accomplish some of these goals.

Schools:

Schools must be places of safety, not fear. School administrators must adopt simple, clear policies to shut ICE out—banning the sharing of student information without an actual judicial warrant or subpoena—and ensure that teachers, staff, and administrators are trained to stand firm, keep ICE off school grounds, and protect all students regardless of immigration status.

School districts can go even further by declaring campuses “safe school zones” where cooperation with ICE is completely off the table. In 2017, the Los Angeles Unified School District showed what’s possible when it made every school a safe zone and cut ICE off entirely. It’s time for every district across the country to step up and do the same—because no student, teacher, or school staff should ever have to fear that ICE will come for them or their family in a place that’s meant to foster learning and community.

Employers:

ICE’s workplace raids are a deliberate attack on communities, blatantly harming local businesses and working-class families trying to make ends meet. Nevertheless, employers can refuse to participate in voluntary audits or share worker data unless ICE presents a valid judicial warrant or subpoena. Employers can go even further by demanding a warrant before allowing ICE into any private areas of their businesses. California’s Immigrant Worker Protection Act (AB 450) is a powerful example of steps employers could take to protect their workers.

Employers, co-workers, classmates, school administrators, constituents, and elected officials all have a role to play. Now is the time to show up and fight back like never before. We have the power to keep each other safe—by organizing, demanding action, and holding every level of leadership accountable.

State and local officials must show up to defend immigrants and refuse to simply comply with President-elect Trump’s agenda. Schools must show up for their students, and employers must protect their workers. Every legal mechanism must be deployed to protect communities and the people we love.