AAPI civil rights leaders and census say the citizenship question was the wrong decision by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and its inclusion in the 2020 Census form is likely to jeopardize a fair and accurate census.
“I’m incredibly concerned by the inclusion of an untested citizenship question whose sole impact will be to suppress participation in the 2020 census," said Rep. Judy Chu of California. "The census is essential for ensuring fair and accurate representation and distribution of government resources. But by including a question on citizenship, which is not required by the Constitution, the Trump Administration is exploiting the fear of immigrant communities who are already reticent to divulge personal information to the federal government."
California, with the largest number of immigrants, documented and undocumented, could lose Congressional representatives. Presently, the state has the most members in the House of Representatives.
Critics say that the addition of the citizenship question is just another bargaining chip for Trump in his anti-immigrant agenda, which includes Muslim travel bans, a radical immigration policy overhaul limiting family reunification and a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
Chu points out that the other questions included in the Census took years of testing before they were added to the questionnaire.
"Existing Census Bureau research already documents the growing reluctance of survey respondents to take part in any Census Bureau surveys – all due to the “climate of fear” created by the Trump Administration’s hostile policies and rhetoric,” said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “The civil rights community is speaking with a clear, united voice: this decision is wrong for our communities, our democracy, and our country, and we will fight to overturn it.”
“The citizenship question and similar policies by this administration seek to leave minority communities undercounted, under-represented, and under-protected. The Commerce Department has shirked its responsibility of ensuring that all questions are properly tested and lead to accurate data,” said John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC.
The administration's actions thus far in regards to immigrants is not do much for inculcating trust in the federal government. The question is unecessarily intrusive and will raise concerns in all households whether they are native-born or foreign-born, citizen or non-citizen, documented or undocumented. The AAPI community should remember that in recent times when the Census included the question about citizenship, that information was used to round up Japanese/Americans and place them in internment camps.
_________________________________________________________________________________
California, with the largest number of immigrants, documented and undocumented, could lose Congressional representatives. Presently, the state has the most members in the House of Representatives.
According to California's Attorney General Xavier Becerra, the U.S. Constitution requires an actual count of the population in the decennial census, regardless of citizenship status. Including a question about citizenship could intimidate or discourage people and result in an inaccurate census that might "translate into several million people not being counted," he said.
"This latest move by the Trump administration to threaten California is not just a bad idea, it's against the law," Becerra told reporters. "We're going to defend every one of our rights to make sure that every one of our people who has worked hard to make California the sixth-largest economy in the world is counted.
California's lawsuit is separate from the multi-state lawsuit filed by 11 others states so far. That legal challenge includes New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington
The census is not about who should be in the country. It’s about understanding who is currently in the country and it should not be treated as just another weapon in Trump’s anti-immigrant arsenal. It’s too important for our schools, roads, hospitals, and communities that we have an accurate reporting. It’s also concerning that this question was apparently rushed into the census, without undergoing the usual testing that other questions do.
"Suppression of responses risks significant undercounting in the 2020 Census that will disproportionately impact communities of color," said Chu.Critics say that the addition of the citizenship question is just another bargaining chip for Trump in his anti-immigrant agenda, which includes Muslim travel bans, a radical immigration policy overhaul limiting family reunification and a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
 |
| SCREEN CAPTURE / MSNBC |
Chu points out that the other questions included in the Census took years of testing before they were added to the questionnaire.
"Existing Census Bureau research already documents the growing reluctance of survey respondents to take part in any Census Bureau surveys – all due to the “climate of fear” created by the Trump Administration’s hostile policies and rhetoric,” said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “The civil rights community is speaking with a clear, united voice: this decision is wrong for our communities, our democracy, and our country, and we will fight to overturn it.”
“The citizenship question and similar policies by this administration seek to leave minority communities undercounted, under-represented, and under-protected. The Commerce Department has shirked its responsibility of ensuring that all questions are properly tested and lead to accurate data,” said John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC.
The administration's actions thus far in regards to immigrants is not do much for inculcating trust in the federal government. The question is unecessarily intrusive and will raise concerns in all households whether they are native-born or foreign-born, citizen or non-citizen, documented or undocumented. The AAPI community should remember that in recent times when the Census included the question about citizenship, that information was used to round up Japanese/Americans and place them in internment camps.
_________________________________________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment