Posted on 07/30/2004 7:01:15 AM PDT by B4Ranch
NEW YORK (Reuters) -
The U.S. Census Bureau has provided population data on Arab-Americans to the Department of Homeland Security, including their ancestry and the cities and postal areas in which they live, The New York Times reported on Friday.
While the information sharing is legal, so long as the data do not identify individuals, civil liberties and Arab-American groups called it a breach of public trust and likened it to steps taken against Japanese-Americans in World War II, the newspaper said.
One set of data listed cities with more than 1,000 Arab-Americans. The other, more detailed set, provided ZIP code breakdowns and sorted Arab-Americans by country of origin. The categories were Egyptian, Iraqi, Jordanian, Lebanese, Moroccan, Palestinian, Syrian, "Arab/Arabic" and "Other Arab."
The Census Bureau disclosed the data sharing in response to a request from a civil liberties group, Electronic Privacy Information Center, which shared the documents with The Times.
The information was compiled in August 2002 and December 2003, in response to requests from what is now the Customs and Border Protection division of Homeland Security.
A spokeswoman for Customs and Border Protection told the newspaper the requests were made not for law enforcement purposes, but to help identify in which airports to post signs and pamphlets in Arabic to assist travelers.
But critics said Customs could have gathered general demographic snapshots without such detailed data, and that the ancestral breakdown seemed excessive since Arabic or English could be used for all of the groups.
In 2000, the Census Bureau formally apologized for allowing its data to be used to assist in the locating of Japanese-Americans for internment during World War II.
Kenneth Prewitt, the former census bureau director who made the apology, told the newspaper that the bureau is cautious in its cooperation with law enforcement agencies.
"It is difficult to explain to the public," he said. "There is an issue of principle involved as well as law. In World War II we violated our principles even if we didn't violate the law, and we assured people we wouldn't do it again."
James Zogby, head of the Arab American Institute, told the newspaper the data sharing would harm efforts to build trust within Arab-American communities.
(snip) >>the ancestral breakdown seemed excessive since Arabic or English could be used for all of the groups.<<
What about the Hispanics? They are going to need specialy worded signs too.
How about learning English before you come here? That way we won't offend your sensibilities by knowing where you live......on the American taxpayers dollars.
More to the point how about attempting to learn English after you get here.
These arabs are the EMEMY, we are not waging war against the Hungarians for gawds sake!!!
The enemy are Muslims, not Arabs; some Arabs are Christians, right?
Perhaps if he'd deign to be a "mere" American he wouldn't be on the list. Duh.
He wants Americans to make it so he can trust us?! That's backwards.
identify in which airports to post signs and pamphlets in Arabic to assist travelers
How do you say, Stay out!, in Arabic? :)
Just kidding. Yes, I know most Arabs here are Christians.
They might as well head over to Patterson, NJ and round up all the terrorist wannabe's right now.
Jihadists. Most jihadists are Muslim Arabs, but does not preclude those who run with them.
Watch 'em. Carefully.
oh well!
if they don't have anything to hide, then they shouldn't be worried.
Right, the non-Islamic co-Jihadists.
With all the PC blather about homeland security and the 9/11 report and commissions, if every mosque in America is NOT bugged 24/7, it's all empty talk.
And the FBI had better have a hundred agents inside the black muslim US prison organizations.
Anything less than this effort, and America is begging for more attacks and sniper events.
Let's be fair then. The Department of Homeland Security can have permission to track citizens of English, Irish, Polish, Italian and German descent. Whether they choose to do so isn't any of my business.
Lets also be fair about the cost involved if you ever wanted to create a national register of people. It would cost tens of billions and take at least 3 years to collect, with all kinds of court cases put into effect to halt it. By going straight to the census...they saved the nation over 20 billion dollars, and avoided countless lawsuits. And if anyone wants to challenge the data...the US should simply put the whole thing on the internet. A massive amount of data is worthless unless you can build the filters to harness the information. And without names, its all a joke. You can prove nothing substiantial.
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