Department of Justice Applies New Restrictions on Racial Profiling

The Justice Department is announcing new restrictions on racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies today that will expand its prohibited application currently based on race and ethnicity to include profiling bans related to gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity, according to a summary of the government’s plan.

The new guidelines, five years in the making, will for the first time apply to some national security activities, which were exempted under the initial 2003 policy. But the long-criticized investigative tactic of profiling will still be permitted during screening of commercial airline passengers, border inspections and during protective functions initiated by the U.S. Secret Service, all overseen by the Department of Homeland Security.

Included in the permitted border profiling functions are the U.S. Border Patrol’s “activities in the vicinity of the border and (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) enforcement at ports of entry.”

“Given the unique nature of parts of DHS’ mission – most notably in protecting our borders and securing our skies – some DHS activity is not covered by the policy,” the DHS said in a statement. “This does not mean that officers and agents are free to profile. To the contrary, DHS’ existing policies make it categorically clear that profiling is prohibited, while articulating limited circumstances where it is permissible to rely in part on these characteristics, because of the unique nature of border and transportation security as compared to traditional law enforcement.”

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