Census Bureau will stop giving U.S. intelligence agencies input on where Arabs, others live

Site Notices

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Census Bureau will stop giving U.S. intelligence agencies input on where Arabs, others live

Posted: 8/30/2004 9:25:18 AM EDT

Looks like its more important for the arabs to feel better about the census than it is to locate bad guys and cooperate with LEO's.

www.detnews.com/2004/metro/0408/30/c01-257832.htm

Monday, August 30, 2004
Census tightens release of data
Bureau will stop giving U.S. intelligence agencies input on where Arabs,
others live
By Brad Heath / The Detroit News

On the Internet
Copies of the census information provided to Homeland Security are available
from the Electronic Privacy Information Center at
www.epic.org/privacy/census/foia.

Stung by criticism, the U.S. Census Bureau will no longer turn over detailed
information about Arabs or other minorities to law enforcement without
approval from top bureau officials.

The change comes a month after census officials acknowledged they had given
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security statistics about where
Arab-Americans live. Although it is legal, the release drew sharp criticism
from civil rights groups, who said it undermines the public's trust.

"I hope we will restore the trust we built, not only with the Arab
community, but with other minority communities in the country that are
particularly sensitive about the confidentiality of their data," Census
Bureau Director Louis Kincannon said.

Kincannon said data requests from law enforcement and intelligence agencies
must now be approved by one of eight associate directors, the second
highest-ranking officials in the Census Bureau. He said the policy will not
keep police from getting similar numbers in the future - mainly because much
of it is already available on the bureau's Web site - but will allow
officials to keep tabs on who requests information and how it is used.

"This is an important step in the right direction to restore people's
confidence," said Imad Hamad, Midwest director of the American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee. "But in many people's minds, the damage is
already done. I only hope we can overcome this."

The furor began in July, when census officials admitted they had given
analysts in the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection - now part of
Homeland Security - two detailed tabulations about where Arabs in the United
States live.

This month, 23 civil rights groups signed a letter calling the release "a
troubling reminder of one of our nation's darkest days when the sharing of
similar information resulted in the internment of Japanese-Americans during
World War II."

Many of the organizations said they feared the information would be used to
target Arab-Americans, a charge Homeland Security officials denied.

Metro Detroit is home to about 100,000 Arabs, one of the largest
concentrations in the country.

Hamad said the controversy likely will make Arab-Americans and other
minorities less likely to cooperate with the census. Even during the
government's last head count, in 2000, he said many Arabs were reluctant to
fill out detailed census forms for fear the information would be used
against them.

Posted: 8/30/2004 9:34:39 AM EDT

[#1]

This is the kind of senseless BS that made PATRIOT neccicary...

Individual fiefdoms acting on their own political beliefs, without respect for the good of the country or being 'all on the same team'...

Posted: 8/30/2004 9:50:26 AM EDT

[#2]

Well, the feared consequence of giving out census information is that affected minorities will not cooperate with future censuses. This means that areas with lots of minorities who are suspected of harboring malefactors will be undercounted and therefore underrepresebted in future congressional apportionments. I'm trying to see the downside here.

Posted: 8/30/2004 10:11:27 AM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
Well, the feared consequence of giving out census information is that affected minorities will not cooperate with future censuses. This means that areas with lots of minorities who are suspected of harboring malefactors will be undercounted and therefore underrepresebted in future congressional apportionments. I'm trying to see the downside here.

Along those lines; less entitlement distribution, welfare, etc... Still looking for a downside.

Posted: 8/30/2004 11:00:36 AM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:
This is the kind of senseless BS that made PATRIOT neccicary...

Individual fiefdoms acting on their own political beliefs, without respect for the good of the country or being 'all on the same team'...

yup

Posted: 8/30/2004 11:06:17 AM EDT

[#5]

I'm sure they will still report "White man with guns"

Posted: 8/30/2004 11:45:32 AM EDT

[#6]

We WILL lose the war on terrorism as long as we continue this touchy feeling politically correct multicultural BS and continue to deny who and what the enemy is.

Posted: 8/30/2004 11:48:38 AM EDT

[#7]

+1

this PC shit is gonna bite us in the ass.

Posted: 8/30/2004 11:48:52 AM EDT

[#8]

Census Bureau will stop giving U.S. intelligence agencies input on where Arabs, others live

There's something funny, yet tragic, about your thread title.

P.S.,

What Lumpy said, +1.

Posted: 8/30/2004 11:54:44 AM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
Well, the feared consequence of giving out census information is that affected minorities will not cooperate with future censuses. This means that areas with lots of minorities who are suspected of harboring malefactors will be undercounted and therefore underrepresebted in future congressional apportionments. I'm trying to see the downside here.

+1

What...the.. F

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Census Bureau will stop giving U.S. intelligence agencies input on where Arabs, others live

General » General Discussion

Warning

Confirm Action

About AR15.COM

Stay Connected

Newsletter

Contact Us