Eric Holder Will Pursue Eric Garner Civil Rights Investigation | NBC News
Attorney General Holder announces that the justice department will pursue a civil rights investigation into the death of Eric Garner. Subscribe to NBC News...
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Eric Gardner Death; Criminal Trespass; A.G. Eric Holder; GA. Black Mayors; Kendrick Johnson Death;
December 6, 2014 Subject: No Action On Issues That Have Been Highlighted For Decades But Ignored...
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Eric Gardner Death; Criminal Trespass; A.G. Eric Holder; GA. Black Mayors; Kendrick Johnson Death; - Video
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
Attorney General Eric Holder will announce 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. 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.
The Justice Department began the process of revising the guidance back in 2009. Attorney General Holder has pressed for the revised policy to be finalized before he leaves office, according to a Justice Department official. "It has been the first item on the agenda each day in his morning senior staff meetings," the official said.
"Particularly 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 in a statement released in advance of the new guidance.
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Eric Holder to release new racial profiling guidance
The Justice Department on Monday will unveil its new policy expanding a ban on federal law enforcement officers' use of profiling in investigations.
The revised guidelines will broaden a 2003 prohibition on religious or ethnic profiling. The policy will bar profiling based on religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, as the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
For the first time, the policy will also apply to local law enforcement officers participating in federal task forces.
But the policy will not apply to Border Patrol officers working in the vicinity of the border, nor the Transportation Security Administration and other officers working at airports. The Secret Service will not be covered either.
The new policy was described by a Justice Department official as one of Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr.s signature accomplishments, which he pushed hard to finalize before his planned departure early next year.
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, Holder said in a statement to be released Monday.
Particularly in light of certain recent incidents weve seen at the local level and the widespread concerns about trust in the criminal justice process which so many have raised throughout the nation its imperative that we take every possible action to institute strong and sound policing practices, Holder said.
He was alluding to incidents in New York and Ferguson, Mo., in which unarmed black men died during encounters with white police officers. Those deaths have led to protests across the nation.
The Justice officialsaid that Holder intends to "aggressively" impose the changes and that the attorney general hopes they become a model for state and local authorities. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the policy before its official announcement.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said the exclusions for certain Border Patrol and TSA activities did not mean that profiling would be freely allowed, but that it would be permissible to rely in part on the banned characteristics because of the unique nature of border and transportation security.
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Eric Holder to announce broader ban on racial, ethnic, other profiling
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will announce new guidelines on racial profiling for federal law enforcement on Monday. The revised guidelines will expand the definition of racial profiling and will apply to state and local officials involved in federal law enforcement tasks, according to CBS.
The Justice Department issued its first restrictions on racial profiling in 2003 under then-Attorney General John Ashcroft. Those guidelines banned profiling on the basis of race or ethnicity but allowed for exceptions for border control and national security, CBS reported. Holder has been revising those guidelines since 2009 but pushed to have the the policy finished before his departure from office.
"During the last two weeks in particular, it has been the first item on the agenda each day in his morning senior staff meetings," one DOJ official told ABC. "It will be one of the signature accomplishments of his tenure."
The announcement comes as nationwide protests continue over the use of deadly force by police officers against unarmed black men in incidents in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York. The decision to not indict both officers by local grand juries has sparked further protests in recent days.
Holder linked Mondays announcement to these incidents in a statement provided by his office in advance of the release. "Particularly 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," he said.
While the new guidelines are expected to expand the characteristics it protects -- including bans of profiling on the basis of gender, national origin and sexual orientation -- some civil rights groups remain unsatisfied with the reform.
Its baffling that even as the government recognizes that bias-based policing is patently unacceptable, it gives a green light for the FBI, TSA and CBP [Customs and Border Protection] to profile racial, religious and other minorities at or in the vicinity of the border and in certain national security contexts, and does not apply the Guidance to most state and local law enforcement, ACLU Washington legislative office director Laura W. Murphy said in a statement.
The DOJ is expected to announce the full guidance on Monday afternoon.
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Racial Profiling 2014: Holder Announces New Guidelines Following Ferguson, NYC Protests