Surveillance data collected by the El Cajon Police Department (ECPD) was used in immigration-related searches more than 550 times this year, according to a KPBS analysis of records from the city’s automated license plate reader (ALPR) system.
The analysis shows that out-of-state police agencies routinely tap into data collected by El Cajon’s ALPR system for immigration-related searches – sometimes on behalf of federal agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
It’s something that shouldn’t happen under California’s sanctuary laws, which generally prohibit any local resources from being used to enforce federal immigration laws.
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