A Demographic Threat? Proposed Reclassification of Arab Americans on the 2020 Census

Abstract

The proposed reclassification of Arab American identity on the 2020 U.S. Census is not simply a moment of racial progress, but I argue, a mechanism that evidences the state’s interest in obtaining more accurate "macro and micro demographic data" about Arab Americans. By illuminating the causal state interests facilitating reform and reclassification, this Essay highlights how more precise and extensive demographic data – collected and compiled with a Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) American box on the U.S. Census form – expands the reach of federal and local anti-terror and counter-radicalization policing amid the fluid yet evermore fierce War on Terror.