Issues
DHS
Letter to Census Director
Posted on Wednesday August 11, 2004
Re: Data Sent to Homeland Security
Dr. Charles Louis Kincannon
Director
U.S. Bureau of the Census
Washington, DC 20333
August 12, 2004
Dear Dr. Kincannon,
I am writing on behalf of my organization and others who are disturbed to learn about the sharing of data on Arab ancestry with agencies in the Department of Homeland Security.
The Arab American Institute has worked closely and productively with the Census for close to 20 years in an effort to improve data collection on and participation of Americans of Arab descent. We led the national outreach campaign in 1990 and 2000 to educate Arab Americans about the census. In 2001 we joined the Census Information Center (CIC) program to provide analysis, context and access to data on the Arab population in America. Ten years ago, we launched a national campaign to unify American ethnic communities and researchers around the need to continue to measure ancestry in the U.S. Census.
It is in this role as long standing Census stakeholders and proponents that we express our deep concern over the decision to provide data tabulations to the DHS. There is no dispute that these data were from publicly available tables or that there was any violation of law. What is in question is the Bureau’s judgment and discretion in a request that clearly involved a “sensitive population” and one that admittedly involved data “overkill” for the stated purpose. We are equally dismayed that the Bureau did not think to contact, even as a courtesy, the Arab American representative on the Decennial Advisory Committee or AAI in its capacity as a CIC at the time of this request.
The Department of Homeland Security has offered to review with interested parties the procedures that led to the original request and explain why zip-code level and country of origin specific data were included. The response so far from Bureau representatives has been mostly defense of procedures and the difficulty in protecting against misuse of public data. We have not heard a vigorous response to the principal issue at stake: erosion of the public trust.
The harm done to Arab American confidence in the census is immeasurable. Already victims of government policies that promote collective suspicion and feed backlash against them, our community sees this episode, regardless of the facts at hand, as one more reason to feel unprotected and unfairly targeted. As you will see from the undersigned groups representing privacy, civil rights, educational and other advocacy constituencies, we are not alone in our concerns.
As Census stakeholders, we also fear that if not appropriately dealt with, this incident could embolden critics of the Census and those who do not support the collection of socio-economic information about American society. This is, in our view, an unacceptable outcome. We believe that many data-sharing safeguards already in place can be strengthened to keep communities safe from official misuse. We look to the Bureau for a plan of action that addresses these inter-agency concerns and are ready to work with you towards its implementation.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Helen Hatab Samhan
Executive Director
Arab American Institute Foundation
Co-signed by:
Organizations
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
Kareem W. Shora, JD, Director, Legal Policy
Arab American Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS)
Karen Rignall, National Outreach Director
Arab American Community Development Corporation of Philadelphia
Marwan Kreidie
Arab-American Family Support Center
Emira Habiby Browne, Executive Director
Arab American Institute, Michigan
Fay Beydoun, Executive Director
Arab Cultural & Community Center, San Francisco
Jamal Dajani, President
Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum
Gem P. Daus, Director of Policy
Bethlehem Association
Edward A. Hazbun, Board Member
Center for National Security Studies
Kate Martin, Director
Chinese for Affirmative Action
Brian Cheu, Interim Executive Director
Consumer Action
Ken McEldowney, Executive Director
Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
Lillie Coney, Senior Policy Analyst
First Amendment Foundation
National Committee Against Repressive Legislation
Kit Gage, Director
Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project
Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
Denise Gilman, Director
Muslim American Republican Caucus
Hany Elqutub, Chairman
Muslim Public Affairs Council
Salam Al-Marayati
Nashville Peace and Justice Center
Matthew Leber, Director
National Coalition for an Accurate Count of Asian Pacific Americans
Henry Der
National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development
Aleyamma Mathew, Director of Programs
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)
Eunsook Lee, Executive Director
New York Immigration Coalition
Margie McHugh, Executive Director
Papa Ola Lökahi
Hardy Spoehr, Executive Director
Momi Imaikalani Lovell, Director, Data & Information/CIC
Playgrounds for Palestine, Inc.
Susan Abulhawa
Privacy Journal
Robert Ellis Smith, Esq., Publisher
Privacy Times
Evan Hendricks
Puerto Rican Legal Defense & Education Fund
Angelo Falcón, Senior Policy Executive
South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow (SAALT)
Deepa Iyer, Executive Director
University of California, Los Angeles Census Information Center
Melany Dela Cruz, M.A
Zogby International
John Zogby, President and CEO
Individuals
Kristine J. Ajrouch, Ph.D.
Eastern Michigan University*
Hady Amr
Amr Group
Samia El-Badry, Ph.D.
Decennial Census Advisory Committee
Khalil Benkirane
Filmmaker
Yvonne Haddad
Georgetown University*
Louise Cainkar, Ph.D.
Great Cities Institute
University of Illinois-Chicago*
Gary C. David, Ph.D.
Bentley College*
Rifaat A. Dika, Ph.D.
Columbia University*
Chris Dole, Ph.D.
Amherst College*
Fadwa El Guindi
University of Southern California*
Richard M. Fawal, Chair
Ramallah American Business & Professional Society*
David Ferris
Pennsylvanian State Education Association*
Barbara Green
Green and Associates
Rosina Hassoun, Ph.D.
Michigan State University*
Ali A. Hossaini, Ph.D.
Clinical Professor of Pathology
MCV/VCU, (Ret.)
Ilene J. Jacobs
Decennial Census Advisory Committee Director of Litigation, Advocacy & Training; California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc.*
Jerry Kang, Ph.D.
Georgetown Law Center*
UCLA School of Law*
Sylvia C. Nassar-McMillan, Ph.D., LPC, NCC, ACS
North Carolina State University
Nadine Naber
University of Michigan*
Chad Naso
Center for National Security Studies*
Jen’nan G. Read, PhD
University of California*
Professor Paul Spickard
University of California*
Rita Stephan
University of Texas at Austin*
Michael W. Suleiman
Kansas State University*
- for identification purpose only
