TSA Exempt from New Racial Profiling Guidelines

Criticism against certain exceptions follows the announcement of new racial profiling guidelines by Attorney General Eric Holder.

Before the release of long-awaited revisions to federal racial profiling guidelines for law enforcement, there was already skepticism around continued exceptions for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), particularly in the areas of border protection and transportation.

The new guidelines expand characteristics to include bans against profiling on the basis of gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation and general identity. The previous guidelines, passed in 2003, limited bans based on race and ethnicity.

Attorney General Eric Holder, during a speech in Atlanta December 1, said the new guidelines would be “rigorous new standards—and robust safeguards—to help end racial profiling, once and for all.”

However, according to a CBS News report, DHS has confirmed that there will be exceptions, including screening done at the borders and “in transportation settings.” Other exceptions will be allowed for U.S. Border Patrol interdiction activities, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Homeland Security Investigation (HIS) interdiction activities at ports of entry.

The Chicago Tribune, quoted one federal law enforcement official as saying, “entire swaths of DHS activity are exempt” from the new policy.

Among the critics of the new guidelines is the ACLU. “It’s baffling that even as the government recognizes that bias-based policing is patently unacceptable, it gives a green light for the FBI, TSA, and CBP to profile racial, religious and other minorities at or in the vicinity of the border and in certain national security contexts, and does not apply the Guidance to most state and local law enforcement,” ACLU Washington Legislative Office Director Laura W. Murphy said in a statement released to CBS.

The revised guidelines have taken more than five years to complete, and are expected to be one of Holder’s “signature” accomplishments, the CBS report noted.

[Photo: iStock]