Close X
Sunday, September 22, 2024
ADVT 
International

US Announce New Limits on Racial Profiling, South Asians Dismayed

IANS, 09 Dec, 2014 12:28 PM
  • US Announce New Limits on Racial Profiling, South Asians Dismayed
Sikh, Muslim and South Asian Communities have expressed dismay over new guidelines that ban racial profiling by federal law enforcement officers but do not apply to screeners at airports or border check points.
 
The new guidelines announced by Attorney General Eric Holder Monday replace the 2003 Bush administration rules. They prohibit profiling based on race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, religion or sexual orientation.
 
But the new rules apply only to federal officers, such as the FBI and Secret Service and any local law enforcement that work with them on task forces.
 
"We are particularly troubled by a critical exemption for several key federal law enforcement agencies that allows these agencies to explicitly continue profiling, mapping, and surveilling communities in the name of national security investigations," said The South Asian Americans Leading Together(SAALT).
 
It joined the National Network of Arab American Communities, the Sikh Coalition, OneAmerica, Rights Working Group, the Southern Border Communities Coalition, and the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans in expressing deep concerns over the new rules.
 
The exemption given to several key agencies "essentially allows the profiling of broad swaths of individuals, and many communities as a whole, including South Asian, Muslim, Arab, Middle Eastern, Latino, and border communities," it said.
 
"Justice and civil rights protections cannot be dispensed on a sliding scale," SAALT said.
 
"Immigrants and communities of colour risk continuing to be treated as econd-class citizens by the very law enforcement officials tasked to protect them."
 
Condemning the use of profiling by all law enforcement agencies against any individual or community, SAALT said it "joins Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, Black, Latino, and border communities to continue our work to seek a more fair, just, and inclusive society where all individuals can live free from discrimination."
 
Rejecting the "flawed and misleading" guidelines, the Sikh Coalition, the largest Sikh advocacy organisation in the US, moved to petition the White House and Congress, and sent protest letters to justice and homeland security departments.
 
"The guidance is like a used car with new paint. The car looks better, but once you look underneath the hood, you realize it's unsafe to drive," said Rajdeep Singh, Director of Law and Policy at the Sikh Coalition.
 
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) also expressed concerns over the new guidelines retaining what it called "Muslim carve-outs on profiling by government agencies at airports and borders."
 
"CAIR is dismayed that at a time when our nation is struggling to come to terms with a series of high-profile police killings of unarmed African-Americans, the DOJ (Department of Justice) would release revised profiling guidelines that include loopholes for targeting US Muslims and Hispanics," it said.

MORE International ARTICLES

Indian-American Renu Khator to lead Dallas Fed board

Indian-American Renu Khator to lead Dallas Fed board
India born Renu Khator, University of Houston(UH) president and UH System chancellor, is set to lead the board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas....

Indian-American Renu Khator to lead Dallas Fed board

Lessons to learn from Sino-Indian border management: Chinese daily

Lessons to learn from Sino-Indian border management: Chinese daily
The lessons learnt from China-India land border dispute management can help settle the maritime dispute between China and Japan and the disputes in the South...

Lessons to learn from Sino-Indian border management: Chinese daily

US urges India to look beyond IPR in affordable healthcare

US urges India to look beyond IPR in affordable healthcare
India was Tuesday urged by the US to look beyond intellectual property rights (IPR) and compulsory licensing in affordable healthcare, and to address concerns...

US urges India to look beyond IPR in affordable healthcare

India, Nepal ink 10 deals; Modi inaugurates trauma centre, bus service

India, Nepal ink 10 deals; Modi inaugurates trauma centre, bus service
Nepal's happiness "gives us joy", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here Tuesday on his second visit to the Himalayan country in 100 days as both sides inked...

India, Nepal ink 10 deals; Modi inaugurates trauma centre, bus service

China ready to hold fresh border talks with India

China ready to hold fresh border talks with India
China welcomes India's newly-appointed special representative on border talks, Ajit Doval, and expects a new round of parleys soon, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said Tuesday....

China ready to hold fresh border talks with India

IS, militant groups received $120 mn in ransoms: UN

IS, militant groups received $120 mn in ransoms: UN
The Sunni radical group Islamic State (IS) and other terrorist groups operating in Syria and Iraq have received as much as $120 million in ransoms since 2004, a UN expert said....

IS, militant groups received $120 mn in ransoms: UN