US Census Data on Arab Americans Given to Department of Homeland Security

04/08/2004

The Electronic Privacy Information Center obtained documents showing that the U.S. Census Bureau provided the Department of Homeland Security statistical data on people who identified themselves on the 2000 census as being of Arab ancestry. All relevant information is on the EPIC website.

Historically, census data on race has been abused. In World War II, for example, it was used to round up Japanese-Americans.

The New York Times covered the story, and quoted the Census Bureau as saying that such 'cooperation' was standard practice. The deputy director of the Census Bureau is quoted as saying: "We do worry about how information will be used. However, we have not been given the authority to determine which organization gets which information."

In response, the Department of Homeland Security claims that this information is used solely for communication purposes. As quoted in the NY Times article, A DHS spokeswoman said that "the information is not in any way being used for law enforcement purposes," she said. "It's being used to educate the traveler. We're simply using basic demographic information to help us communicate U.S. laws and regulations to the traveling public."

Related:
PI explains risks to census data by using U.S. contractor without strong protections