New guidelines for federal law enforcement will allow border agents to consider race. After a lengthy negotiation between Attorney General Eric Holder, the White House and Secretary Jeh Johnson, the guidelines will not govern the Department of Homeland Security. Ethnicity and race are crucial factors for agents patrolling the border, the administration concluded. The guidelines will be announced in the coming days. Sari Horwitz and Jerry Markon in The Washington Post.
The exception for border agents is a major one. "Federal agents have jurisdiction to enforce immigration laws within 100 miles of the borders, including the coastlines, an area that includes roughly a third of the United States, and nearly two-thirds of its population. Federal agents board buses and Amtrak trains in upstate New York, questioning passengers about their citizenship and detaining people who cannot produce immigration papers. Border Patrol agents also run inland checkpoints looking for illegal immigrants." Matt Apuzzo and Michael S. Schmidt in The New York Times.
Racial profiling can be counterproductive. As Attorney General John Ashcroft noted in 2003, research shows that when law enforcement use race to make judgments, they waste their time on innocent people rather than focusing on real indicators of dangerous behavior. Emily Badger in The Washington Post.
SOMIN: Conservatives must oppose racial profiling. The argument against racial profiling is the same as the argument against affirmative action. Just because you don't know everything there is to know doesn't mean you can use race to fill in the gaps. The Washington Post.
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