Civil rights groups say the procedure of notifying towns in Suffolk County of the release of alleged gang members from jail might be unconstitutional.
The Suffolk County sheriff’s department creates weekly lists of alleged gang members and associates when they get released from jail. Newsday reports County District Attorney Tim Sini will now expand distribution of those lists to the Town of Islip because of gang-related violence there.
Civil rights groups say these lists violate due process.
Irma Solis, with the New York Civil Liberties Union, says that innocent people have been included on the lists in the past.
“Unfortunately there have been several of those cases involving youth who have been, unbeknownst to them, have been placed on a list that led to immigration officers coming to their house.”
Solis is concerned that authorities do not notify people when they’re placed on a list. She says that makes it hard to ever be removed.