Report: Homeland Security
    Gets Data on Arab-Americans
    By Reuters

    Friday 30 July 2004

    New York - 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.