With G-d's Name, The Merciful Benefactor, The Merciful Redeemer |
U.S. to Expand Rules Limiting Use of Profiling by Federal Agents
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The Justice Department will significantly expand its definition of racial profiling to prohibit federal agents from considering religion, national origin, gender and sexual orientation in their investigations, a government official said Wednesday. The move addresses a decade of criticism from civil rights groups that say federal authorities have in particular singled out Muslims in counterterrorism investigations and Latinos for immigration investigations. The Bush administration banned profiling in 2003, but with two caveats: It did not apply to national security cases, and it covered only race, not religion, ancestry or other factors. Since taking office, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has been under pressure from Democrats in Congress to eliminate those provisions. “These exceptions are a license to profile American Muslims and Hispanic-Americans,” Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, said in 2012. |
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President George W. Bush said in 2001 that racial profiling was wrong and promised “to end it in America.” But that was before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. After those attacks, federal agents arrested and detained dozens of Muslim men who had no ties to terrorism. The government also began a program known as special registration, which required tens of thousands of Arab and Muslim men to register with the authorities because of their nationalities. “Aside from being the right thing to do, tightening the guidelines on profiling will make our country safer,” said Hoda Elshishtawy, National Policy Analyst for the Muslim Public Affairs Council. “Focusing on behavior instead of religion allows law enforcement agents to focus on individuals who pose actual threats. This is important in ensuring we use our limited resources effectively.” |
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