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Customs, Census Officials Seek to Reassure Arab-American Groups Over Data Exchange

Associated Press
Posted on Friday August 13, 2004

Washington- Federal officials said Friday the Census Bureau is reporting demographic data about Arab-Americans to a Homeland Security agency but only population numbers and not names, addresses or other private details.

Responding to requests over the past couple of years from the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, the Census Bureau has provided files that included a count of U.S. residents of Arab descent in certain ZIP codes. Names or street addresses were not included.

Customs and census officials say no rules were violated. Such requests are common, and the data already were available on the bureau’s Web site, Census Bureau deputy director Hermann Habermann said Friday.

Customs commissioner Robert Bonner, who met with several Arab-American groups Friday about the matter, said in one instance, information was used to help determine at what U.S. airports to post signs in languages other than English.

In another case, customs officials tried to use the data in a brainstorming session about cargo security, but the figures proved useless and were purged from the department’s computers, Bonner said.

While the reasons may be valid, the information-sharing still may shake the confidence Arab-Americans have in the census and renew worries among some people that such government surveys constitute invasions of privacy, said Helen Hatab Samhan, executive director of the Arab American Institute Foundation.

The exchange between census and customs employees was made public through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington-based privacy group.

“There’s already an atmosphere and climate where Arab-Americans are seen as suspicious, regardless of how long they have been living here or whether or not they are under investigation,” Samhan said Friday.

“What we worry about is that this kind of revelation somehow supports that,” she said. “What we want to do is work with the bureau and other agencies to make sure there are not other, malicious uses.”

Bonner said his agency never asked for the ZIP code file. According to EPIC, the data shared also included a count of U.S. residents of Arab ancestry in many cities with 10,000 or more people.

Still, to deal with any misgivings, Bonner noted he has implemented a new rule requiring that future data requests be approved by an assistant commissioner in his office. Previously, such requests were made informally and required no approval.

“We do not believe what we did was incorrect, but the issue is valid,” Habermann said. “People are concerned that it not be used to harm groups. That’s not blown out of proportion.”