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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder gestures as he speaks to members of the community during an interfaith service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, the church where The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached, Monday, Dec. 1, 2014, in Atlanta. AP / David Goldman

Last Updated Dec 8, 2014 1:45 PM EST

Attorney General Eric Holder announced the Justice Department's release of its long-awaited revised racial profiling guidance for federal law enforcement on Monday.

In 2003, the Justice Department issued its first racial profiling guidance under former Attorney General John Ashcroft. That guidance banned profiling based on race and ethnicity, but granted exceptions for national security and border protection. Civil rights groups considered the exceptions a kind of permission to discriminate especially against Muslims in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The newly revised guidance will expand the characteristics it protects -- beyond race and ethnicity -- to include bans on profiling on the basis of gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, and general identity.

"We can't afford to profile, to do law enforcement on the basis of stereotypes," Holder said Monday at an event in Northern Virginia.

The guidance applies to federal law enforcement officers and also to state and local officers involved in federal law enforcement tasks. But the new guidance does continue to allow certain exceptions for the Department of Homeland Security.

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Holder says he will step down as soon as his replacement is confirmed. He became attorney general in 2009 and was the first African American ever...

The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that there will be exceptions for its work in screening at the borders and in transportation settings. Other exceptions have been carved out for U.S. Border Patrol interdiction activities in the vicinity of the border and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) interdiction activities at ports of entry. Secret Service "protective activities" are also excluded from the new guidelines.

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Eric Holder releases new racial profiling guidance

WASHINGTON Keeping police-community relations on the front burner, Attorney General Eric Holder announced an expanded policy Monday that bars federal agents from profiling based on gender, religion, national origin and gender identity.

Current rules dating from 2003 already bar federal agents from using race by itself to go after suspects. The new policy applies to federal agencies and joint task forces that involve local cops, who normally operate under their own policies.

But there are exemptions for national security and border security, drawing sharp responses from advocates.

Attorney General Eric Holder is trying to have it both ways, criticizing profiling while embracing it at the same time, said Antonio Ginatta of Human Rights Watch. Halfhearted reforms are a sorry legacy.

The revised rules will mean extra work for law enforcement in some cases.

Giving an example, the Justice Department said the feds cannot impose heavy enforcement based on a general assumption of crime in an area where one race is heavily represented.

In another example, a crackdown would be appropriate if law enforcement compiled arrest statistics and wasnt motivated by racial animus.

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Holder announces policy to ban feds from profiling

WASHINGTON: US Attorney General Eric Holder unveiled new guidelines aimed at broadening a ban on profiling by law enforcement on Monday (Dec 8) following widespread outrage over the deaths of black men by white police officers.

With the exception of cases related to border or national security, Holder announced measures to ban arrests or identity checks based on an individual's race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender or sexual orientation. Holder, who is black, referenced the recent deaths of African-American men at the hands of police in Ferguson, New York, Cleveland and Phoenix.

"In light of certain recent incidents we've seen at the local level - and the widespread concerns about trust in the criminal justice process which so many have raised throughout the nation - it's imperative that we take every possible action to institute strong and sound policing practices," Holder said.

"As Attorney General, I have repeatedly made clear that profiling by law enforcement is not only wrong, it is profoundly misguided and ineffective - because it wastes precious resources and undermines the public trust," he added.

"With this new guidance, we take a major and important step forward to ensure effective policing by federal law enforcement officials and state and local law enforcement participating in federal task forces throughout the nation," added Holder, who will step down in the next few weeks after five years in the post.

'SIGNATURE ACCOMPLISHMENT'

A Justice Department spokesman said the revamped guidelines, the product of a five-year-long review, will be "one of the signature accomplishments" of Holder's tenure. Holder is to explain the new criteria via conference call to US police on Monday following a review of existing guidelines laid down during the administration of President George W Bush in 2003. The new standards will not apply to border control, in areas such as verification of identity or

luggage checks in airports, which remains the responsibility of the US Department of Homeland Security.

The rules will apply to all police officers, whether working in federal or local law enforcement, during federal operations. The guidelines do not apply to other federal employees such as security forces including the military and intelligence services, or diplomats.

The new racial profiling policy "significantly enhances protections of civil rights" of Americans above and beyond what is required under the US Constitution, Holder said. Identity checks conducted in a "routine" or "spontaneous" manner based on race, gender or religion will be forbidden, unless individuals concerned are suspected of engaging in a criminal act, a threat to national security or breach of intelligence.

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US attorney general announces racial profiling revamp

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