Law enforcement's methods for establishing "gang affiliation” to crack down on alleged MS-13 gang members have exacerbated the arrest, detention and deportation of young immigrants in New York regardless of proven criminal activity, a newly published report shows.

The report “Swept up in the Sweep: The Impact of Gang Allegations on Immigrant New Yorkers,” authored by the New York Immigration Coalition and the Immigrant and Non-Citizen Rights Clinic at the CUNY School of Law, details ways in which law enforcement uses what experts call “arbitrary methods” to profile immigrant youth of color by establishing gang affiliation.

When this kind of affiliation is alleged, law enforcement then has the authority to add individuals to gang databases — an action that could eventually hurt their immigration status.

"It’s not a crime to be a gang member,” said Babe Howell, a professor at the CUNY School of Law, during a press phone call on Wednesday. “What we’re seeing is an addiction to policing based on profiling and stereotyping people, instead of focusing on evidence — on people that have actually done something [criminal].”

The report was released on the same day President Donald Trump said that MS-13 gang members "are animals” during a roundtable on sanctuary cities.

Howell, who has studied gang policing practices for years, found that the New York Police Department and the Nassau County Police include people in gang databases based on evidence such as what kind of apparel they wear, certain types of graffitis, tattoos and being seen near gang-related locations, among other criteria.

“A lot of these locations are community spaces like parks, bodegas,” said Howell. “Is not possible to exist in a community of color and not be photographed in these locations.”

Whether there’s any proven criminal activity or not, being listed in gang databases hurts these immigrants' chances of getting legal permanent residency.

“They use this information in court, and the fact of the arrest, to deny people bonds. Then, they have to fight their cases from the detention center,” said Emily Torstveit Ngara from Hofstra University during the press call.