DOJ drops plans to forbid federal agents from considering nationality in criminal investigations

The Biden administration has backed off a proposal that would have barred federal law enforcement agents from considering a suspect’s nationality or ethnicity in criminal investigations.

Updated anti-discrimination guidelines announced by the Justice Department do not include nationality as a “protected characteristic” that investigators would be prohibited from taking into account. An earlier draft of the proposed policy, obtained by The Washington Times, showed the administration was preparing to add nationality to its protected list, raising concerns that such a move would tie the hands of investigators in terrorism cases....