In an unprecedented move two weeks ago, Attorney General John Ashcroft ordered law enforcement agencies around the nation to interview 5,000 men of Middle Eastern descent. Ashcroft plans to contact mainly those with visas from after January 2000. They will be interviewed for any further information, and is just one initiative – part of a larger terrorism investigation.

For good reason, legal concerns have been raised around the country about racial profiling of Arabs. In addition, police and prosecutors are worried that conducting interviews will strain relations with law enforcement officials and the Arab-American communities.

Police forces in Portland and Corvallis, Ore., as well as the Chicago Police Department, will not participate in Aschcroft’s initiative. The Detroit, Mich. area is home to the nation’s largest Arab-American community, and there were more than 500 letters mailed to Arab and Muslim men in just that community.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago department refused to conduct interviews for two reasons.

First, the list is short enough to be handled by federal authorities and second because of the forces’ hard work in building relations with immigrant communities. There are fears that Superintendent Terry Hill and other officers’ reputation with Chicago’s Arab community may be damaged.

It is an unprecedented demand that should not be imposed on the legal system. The people responsible for scheduling and conducting interviews are, of course, also in charge of the normal operation of the Justice Department.

The Chicago Tribune said, “U.S. attorneys, who normally prosecute cases, now have to arrange the interviews and, in many instances seek the assistance of reluctant local police authorities to find the men and persuade the men to talk.”

As a nation we must find a careful balance between safety and protection of civil liberties. It is a balance that may prove to be difficult to find. However, the racial profiling in the interview process is straining relations with a community that is being asked to help in the investigation. Any more hostility and skepticism within the Arab community toward the authorities conducting the investigation will not help find clues and answer questions.

We must not sacrifice that help for a politically clumsy process that may not be useful anyway.

It is a noteworthy indicator when Attorney General John Ashcroft’s initiative is making nervous the police departments that are to be carrying it out.

editorialboard: Andrea Hauser, Tim Paluch, Michelle Kann, Zach Calef, Omar Tesdell