plan of action - march 28, 2018

U.S. Census


Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has announced that the 2020 Census will include a question about citizen- ship, an item which has not been on the the Census since 1950. (Some longer versions, which are not sent to every household, have included the question.) The Census Bureau is already under-funded under Trump, and adding this question will further jeopardize the accuracy of the Census. States with a large immigrant population will be in danger of losing Federal funding and/or seats in Congress, as many legal immigrants have family members living with them who are undocumented and will be afraid to answer the Census accurately. The entire household will go uncounted, leading to a misrepresentation of population numbers and an under-allocation of Federal funds for basic needs such as transportation, education, social services, etc.

Action:

1. Contact the Department of Commerce, Office of Public Affairs and tell them you oppose the addition of a citizenship question to the U.S. Census: call (202) 482-4883, or email publicaffairs@doc.gov.

2. Contact your MoC and tell them that you oppose the addition of a citizenship question to the U.S. Census.