A Democratic senator raised concerns Thursday about a Homeland Security Department nominee who deleted statistics about racial disparities in traffic stops from a draft press release.
At a hearing to consider her nomination, Deputy Associate Attorney General Tracy A. Henke told senators she deleted the information from the Justice Department release because "it was misleading."
An April 2005 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that black, Hispanic and white motorists are equally likely to be pulled over by police.
The report noted that blacks and Hispanics are much more likely to be searched, handcuffed, arrested and subjected to force or the threat of it. Henke deleted that information from the press release over objections from the bureau's director, Lawrence A. Greenfeld, who was moved to a new job following the dispute.
No release was issued. . . . She is now being considered as a Homeland Security assistant secretary for state and local disaster preparedness.