Sunday, December 18, 2016

Racial Profiling


Issue: Racial and Identity Profiling

In most ways, the borderlands are similar to the rest of the country: We are made up of diverse, tight-knit communities from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, with people who are proud of where they live. But when it comes to racial and identity profiling, we couldn’t be more different.

The border is the only place where a federal officer can stop and frisk you based on the color of your skin, your perceived accent, your apparent religion, and even the way you dress.

This is wrong and at odds with core American values such as equality under the law, fairness and justice.

While the Obama Administration has banned racial and identity profiling in police departments across the nation, it has allowed Customs and Border Protection to continue to harass border residents at will --and with little or no transparency and accountability.

CBP is the largest law enforcement agency in the country and must be held to the same standard as local police forces. In fact, it should be acting as the gold standard for law enforcement.

We urge the Obama Administration to close this loophole and end racial and identity profiling along our nation's borders. In the United States of America, all residents should be able to move freely in the place they love to call home. 

Conclusions:

1.     When it comes to nationwide policing practices around racial and identity profiling, border communities should be treated the same as the rest of the country. Anything less would be at odds with American values of equality under the law, fairness and justice.

2.     Border states like California and New Mexico have banned racial and identity profiling because it's wrong and undermines safety for everybody. The Obama administration should follow their lead by closing the loophole that allows CBP to stop and frisk people with impunity and a lack of transparency and accountability.

3.     Research shows that racial profiling is ineffective because it wastes limited resources on innocent people while allowing those truly looking to harm us to slip by.