Department of Homeland Security Accused of Expanding Racial Profiling in Immigration Enforcement

While the controversy surrounding the arrest of Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr. continues to attract national attention, many in immigrant rights, Latino, and civil rights advocacy groups are decrying what feels to them like contradictory messages about racial profiling coming from the Obama administration in recent weeks. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano recently announced that the Obama administration would not just continue, but actually expand what advocates say is one of the fastest-growing and most troubling racial-profiling programs of the federal government, program 287(g). The initiative basically deputizes state and local law enforcement officials to act as enforcers of federal immigration law. Program 287(g) has been strongly criticized by the Government Accountability Office and research institutes such as Justice Strategies have come to the conclusion that the Bush-era program is "driven more by racial animus than by concerns about public safety."