At its core, the Fourth Amendment prohibits the government from invading the personal privacy and integrity of an individual without strong evidence of crime. Race bears no causal relationship to crime. Race is never a legitimate indicator that should raise the suspicion of Customs officials, and should never be used as part of a drug courier profile. Yet the GAO study presented disturbing evidence that racial bias has tainted Customs enforcement. Black and Hispanic individuals were approximately four to nine times more likely than White individuals to be x-rayed after being frisked or patted down.
Black women have the highest likelihood of being strip-searched of all U.S. citizens.
GAO reported that in some cases, people of color who were more likely to be invasively searched by Customs officials were significantly less likely to be found carrying illegal substances. If enacted, the Civil Rights for International Travelers Act would in essence codify the Customs Service s stated policy of not using race, color, religion, gender or ethnic background in a profile to determine who would be detained or searched. It would also prohibit profiling based on sexual orientation. The bill would also help quantify the problem, by requiring the Customs Service to collect data about the race, national origin and gender of individuals searched, and report those findings annually to Congress. The Customs Service is already required to collect race, ethnicity and gender data by a June 1999 presidential directive.