Census Job Policy Prompts Bias Charge

An Arab American organization based in Washington accused the U.S. government of discrimination by barring many Arab immigrants from U.S. Census Bureau jobs counting the nation’s population. The Census Bureau denied the contention, saying it hires qualified workers regardless of national origin or religion. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said the Commerce Department has sent a list of 56 “allied nations” to its census field offices, limiting hiring of Census 2000 workers to legal immigrants from European and Latin American countries and Israel. Census spokesman Steve Jost said the list of nations was “dictated by Congress and maintained by the State Department.”