CAPAC Chair Rep. Chu Urges DOJ to Close Profiling Loopholes
Washington, DC - Today, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), and Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to close loopholes in the revised DOJ profiling guidance released in December of 2014. While the revised guidance prohibits profiling based on ethnicity, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity, the guidance provides exceptions for certain activities, including those within the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Transportation Security Administration, and Customs and Border Patrol. The caucus chairs released the following statements:
Congresswoman Judy Chu (CA-27), CAPAC Chair:
“The Department of Justice’s updated guidance is an important step toward ending profiling that has come after a decade’s work on this issue. But, more must be done to close the loopholes that still allow certain law enforcement agencies to continue biased-based profiling. Nearly half of the House Democrats, representing thousands of minority communities, have sent a strong message to the Department of Justice that bias-based profiling is unacceptable, without exception. We also urge the DOJ to hold law enforcement accountable to the guidance through data driven tracking of profiling complaints. In the end, these steps will help to bridge the divide between communities of color and law enforcement and make us more secure.”