Robert Reich - The Trump administration’s decision to alter the 2020 Census to ask people if they are American citizens is an unconstitutional power grab that would hurt many disadvantaged Americans. It must be stopped.
The U.S. Constitution calls for “actual enumeration” of the total population for an explicit purpose: To count the residents – not just citizens, residents – of every state to properly allocate congressional representatives to the states based on population.
Asking whether someone is a citizen could cause some immigrants — not just non-citizens, but also those with family members or close friends who aren’t citizens — not to respond for fear that they or their loved ones would be deported. In the current climate of fear, this isn’t an irrational response.
The result would be a systemic undercounting of immigrant communities – with two grossly unfair results.
First, these communities and the states they’re in would get less federal aide. Census data is used in over 132 programs nationwide to allocate over $675 billion each year.
An
undercount would deprive many immigrant communities and their states of
the health care, education and assistance they need and are entitled
to.
Second, these communities and the states they’re in would have fewer representatives in Congress. The
Census count determines the distribution of congressional seats among
states. Under the Constitution, these seats depend on the total number
of people residing in the state, not just citizens.
2 comments:
"The U.S. Constitution calls for “actual enumeration” of the total population"
This means all anyone has to do is to tell the Census how many people live at that address, and because of the way it's asked, if any are minors. That means anyone afraid of the citizenship question should just say how many people live there and ignore the rest of the questions. A head count is all that is required. If you send your form back quickly they won't bother you, while if you don't send it back, they WILL send someone to your door. Having someone show up at the door is much riskier then sending in a headcount only form.
I have never answer the questions, but the only time someone came to my door was when I sent my form back late. The person came a couple of days after I sent it. If they get a head count only form back in a timely fashion, they don't bother to look further.
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