OC Register Publishes PJLC Op-Ed on Gang Policing
and Democratic Decline

The Orange County Register has published an op-ed by Peace and Justice Law Center Executive Director Sean Garcia-Leys warning that discredited gang suppression practices pose a serious threat to constitutional democracy. The commentary draws on decades of experience challenging gang databases and gang injunctions and explains how tools long used against marginalized communities in California are now being repurposed on a national scale.

The op-ed opens with concrete examples of how ordinary, lawful behavior—taking out the trash, giving a friend a ride, walking through one’s neighborhood—has been used by law enforcement to label people as gang members. Once labeled, individuals can face surveillance, arrest, or punishment even when they have committed no crime.

PJLC explains that these outcomes are not isolated mistakes, but the predictable result of policies that treat alleged gang members as uniquely dangerous and therefore undeserving of basic constitutional protections. For decades, California allowed vague gang allegations to justify policing that relies on guilt by association rather than evidence. The op-ed argues that this logic has quietly eroded the rule of law.

The article connects these state-level practices to the Trump administration’s use of gang allegations to justify deportations without hearings under the Alien Enemies Act. By relying on unreliable gang databases and exaggerated claims of danger, the administration is testing how far executive power can go when fear replaces facts.

The commentary was developed in collaboration with the Decriminalizing Neighborhoods Network and the California Alliance for Youth and Community Justice, a statewide group working to change public narratives that portray people labeled as “gang members” as irredeemable or less than human. That narrative work is essential to dismantling policies that rely on dehumanization to bypass constitutional protections.

The op-ed calls for concrete reforms, including real oversight of gang databases, the closure of unregulated “shadow” databases created to evade accountability, dismissal of remaining gang injunctions, and an end to prosecutions under California’s Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention (STEP) Act. Together, these steps would prevent local practices from continuing to serve as a model for broader authoritarian abuses.

Publishing this op-ed reflects PJLC’s broader strategy of pairing litigation with narrative change. By working with movement partners and placing clear, accessible analysis in a major regional newspaper, PJLC is helping shift how the public understands gang policing—and why defending the rights of the most marginalized is essential to defending democracy itself.