A Coalition of Immigrant Advocates and Progressives on Long Island, New York, is raising concerns about a Proposal to ask People their Citizenship Status in the 2020 Census, arguing that such a Question would Intimidate Immigrants in the Country Illegally or Facing the Expiration of Protections against Deportation.
The Citizenship Question, proposed in a Dec. 12th Letter from the U.S. Department of Justice to the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau, “would have a chilling impact throughout the immigrant community,” said Walter Barrientos, Long Island Organizer with Make the Road New York, an Advocacy Group in Latino Working Class Communities.
The Justice Department’s argument that a Citizenship Question should be Added to the 2020 Census Form is completely Misleading.
The Department has never needed this Question to Enforce the Voting Rights Act and there is no need to do so now.
Contrary to the Justice Department’s argument, the Census Bureau has not included a Citizenship Question on the modern Census “Short Form,” sent to every Household, since Enactment of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
Citizen Voting-Age Population is derived from the ongoing American Community Survey and before that, through the so-called Census “Long” Form. That data has been and continues to be suitable for purposes of Civil Rights and Voting Rights Act Enforcement.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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