Court decision deals blow to Boston police gang database

By PHILIP MARCELO
Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — A federal appeals court has dealt a blow to the Boston Police Department’s controversial gang database. A panel of judges for the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled Monday in favor of a Salvadoran national who maintains police wrongly implicated him as a member of the MS-13 gang. Monday’s 5-2 decision orders the federal Board of Immigration Appeals to reconsider the government’s deportation efforts. Lawyers for the defendant said the ruling allows them to continue to pursue his claim for asylum. A police spokesperson declined to comment on the ruling but pointed to gang database reforms enacted last year.