Freedom4um - Article

Trump Justice Department Pushes for Citizenship Question on Census, Alarming Experts

Source:	https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-justice-department-pushes-for-citizenship-question-on-census-alarming-experts#139000
Published:	Dec 30, 2017
Author:	Staff
Post Date:	2017-12-30 16:13:14 by Horse
Views:	373

“This is a recipe for sabotaging the census,” said one. The administration’s stated reason for the controversial move: protecting civil rights.

The Justice Department is pushing for a question on citizenship to be added to the 2020 census, a move that observers say could depress participation by immigrants who fear that the government could use the information against them. That, in turn, could have potentially large ripple effects for everything the once-a-decade census determines — from how congressional seats are distributed around the country to where hundreds of billions of federal dollars are spent. ights Act “and its important protections against racial discrimination in voting.”

A Census Bureau spokesperson confirmed the agency received the letter and said the “request will go through the well-established process that any potential question would go through.” The DOJ declined to comment and the White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Observers said they feared adding a citizenship question would not only lower response rates, but also make the census more expensive and throw a wrench into the system with just two years to go before the 2020 count. Questions are usually carefully field-tested, a process that can take years.

“This is a recipe for sabotaging the census,” said Arturo Vargas, a member of the National Advisory Committee of the Census and the executive director of NALEO Educational Fund, a Latino advocacy group. “When you start adding last- minute questions that are not tested — how will the public understand the question? How much will it suppress response rates?”

The 2010 census included a handful of questions covering age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, household relationship and owner/renter status — but not citizenship.

“People are not going to come out to be counted because they’re going to be fearful the information would be used for negative purposes,” said Steve Jost, a former top bureau official during the 2010 census. “This line about enforcing voting rights is a new and scary twist.” He noted that since the first census in 1790, the goal has been to count everyone in the country, not just citizens.

There have been rumblings since the beginning of the year that the Trump administration wanted to add a citizenship question to the census. Adding to the concerns about the 2020 count, Politico reported last month that the administration may appoint to a top job at the bureau a Republican redistricting expert who wrote a book called “Redistricting and Representation: Why Competitive Elections Are Bad for America.” The Census Bureau’s population count determines how the 435 U.S. House seats are distributed.

The law governing the census gives the commerce secretary, currently Wilbur Ross, the power to decide on questions. They must be submitted to Congress for review two years before the census, in this case by April 2018. A census spokesperson said the agency will also release the questions publicly at that time.

A recent Census Bureau presentation shows that the political climate is already having an effect on responsiveness to the bureau’s American Community Survey, which asks a more extensive list of questions, including on citizenship status, to about one in 38 households in the country per year. In one case, census interviewers reported, a respondent “walked out and left interviewer alone in home during citizenship questions.”

“Three years ago, [it] was so much easier to get respondents compared to now because of the government changes … and trust factors. … Three years ago I didn’t have problems with the immigration questions,” said another census interviewer.

The Justice Department letter argues that including a citizenship question on the once-a-decade census would allow the agency to better enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bars the dilution of voting power of a minority group through redistricting.

“To fully enforce those requirements, the Department needs a reliable calculation of the citizen voting-age population in localities where voting rights violations are alleged or suspected,” the letter states. The letter asks that the Census Bureau “reinstate” the question.

The full census, however, hasn’t included questions about citizenship since 1950. The Census Bureau has gathered such data in other surveys. The bureau switched the method of those surveys after the 2000 census. Today, it conducts the American Community Survey every year, which includes questions about citizenship, along with many other questions. The survey covers a sample of residents of the United States.

Experts said the Justice Department’s letter was misleading. And they questioned the Justice Department’s explanation in the letter, noting that the American Community Survey produces data on citizenship that has been used in Section 2 cases.

“You could always have better data but it seems like a strange concern because no one in the communities who are most affected have been raising this concern,” said Michael Li, senior counsel at the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program.

Poster Comment:

Truman had a citizenship question on the 1950 census.

Post Comment Private Reply

#1: Pinguinite To: Horse (#0)

“People are not going to come out to be counted because they’re going to be fearful the information would be used for negative purposes,”

"negative" purposes? Nice word choice.

Pinguinite posted on 2017-12-30 17:21:58 Reply Private Reply

#2: GreyLmist To: Horse (#0)

The Census Bureau’s population count determines how the 435 U.S. House seats are distributed.
The law governing the census gives the commerce secretary, currently Wilbur Ross, the power to decide on questions. They must be submitted to Congress for review two years before the census, in this case by April 2018. A census spokesperson said the agency will also release the questions publicly at that time.
[...]
The Justice Department letter argues that including a citizenship question on the once-a-decade census would allow the agency to better enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bars the dilution of voting power of a minority group through redistricting.
“To fully enforce those requirements, the Department needs a reliable calculation of the citizen voting-age population in localities where voting rights violations are alleged or suspected,” the letter states. The letter asks that the Census Bureau “reinstate” the question.
The full census, however, hasn’t included questions about citizenship since 1950.

Poster Comment:
Truman had a citizenship question on the 1950 census.

United States Census Bureau | Data stewardship

Only after 72 years does the information collected become available to other agencies or the general public [19. "72-Year Rule". www.census.gov]

United States Census | History chart - Wikipedia

Year: 1940 | Date Taken: April 1, 1940 | Population: 132,164,569

This is the most recent Census where individuals' data have now been released to the public (by the 72-year rule).

Year: 1950 | Date Taken: April 1, 1950 | Population: 150,697,361

Because of the 72-year rule, this census will be available for public inspection on April 1, 2022. [And so on.]

The ‘72-Year Rule’ Governs Release of Census Records | Pew Research Center

a federal law that protects individual-level records for 72 years after the census is taken. The law, passed in 1978, was an outgrowth of an agreement between the Census Bureau and National Archives. For privacy reasons, access to personally identifiable information contained in decennial census records is restricted to all but the individual named on the record or their legal heir for 72 years.
Why 72? The most common explanation is that 72 years was the average lifespan at the time, although documentation corroborating this is sparse.

No such "72-year rule" in the Constitution:

The United States Constitution - The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net [web.archive.org copy]

Constitutional Topic: The Census - The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net [web.archive.org copy]
Census day was set at the first Monday in August, 1790. [...]
Today, the controlling law for the U.S. Census is Title 13 of the U.S. Code That law requires that the census be conducted on or about April 1, 1980, and every ten years after that. The returns must be made available within nine months in order to apportion members of the House of Representatives to each of the states. In the intervening years the law requires the Census Bureau to gather statistics about the residents of the United States for use by Congress. The decennial census is provided for at 13 USC 141.
The law states that the count done in 1980 and every ten years thereafter shall be an actual headcount. [...] The Attorney General ruled, in 1940, that there were no longer any Indians in the United States who could be classified as "not taxed."

Excluding the citizenship question from the census effectively dilutes the voting power of all American citizens, usually resulting in their higher taxation and much lessened Congressional Representation attentatively (who are not supposed to be pandering at all to illegal aliens and other non-citizen foreigners). Illegal aliens aren't even legal residents, nor should they be awarded "legalized" status.

GreyLmist posted on 2018-02-16 14:19:56 Reply Private Reply

#3: GreyLmist To: All (#2)

Excluding the citizenship question from the census effectively dilutes the voting power of all American citizens, usually resulting in their higher taxation and much lessened Congressional Representation attentatively (who are not supposed to be pandering at all to illegal aliens and other non-citizen foreigners).

Illegal aliens > 2020 Census > Redristricting:

Qanon YouTube - Ref. #1 @ 8:46-9:39, 2016 Election map. Cross-reference the blue areas with illegal immigrant high population zones. ... The real TRUTH about why D's depend on illegal immigrants and why they care more about them than you.

Fox News YouTube - Ref. #2 @ 0:23-0:37, 2020 Census ... [then they rewrite what the voting districts are by years of Democrat/Globalist-Commiecrat demands that illegal aliens, alleged "refugees" and other foreign nationals be census-counted along with U.S. citizens + years of harboring them in violation of our laws, for Commie redistricting and powergrab purposes.]

Fox News YouTube - Ref. #3 @ 5:45-6:11, House Speaker, Paul Ryan, states before the midterm election that a couple of Republican seats are already gone from recent redistricting in Pennsylvania, for example.

GreyLmist posted on 2018-11-15 01:18:09 Reply Private Reply

#4: GreyLmist To: All (#3)

Illegal aliens > 2020 Census > Redristricting:
Qanon YouTube - Ref. #1 @ 8:46-9:39, 2016 Election map. Cross-reference the blue areas with illegal immigrant high population zones. ... The real TRUTH about why D's depend on illegal immigrants and why they care more about them than you.
Fox News YouTube - Ref. #2 @ 0:23-0:37, 2020 Census ... [then they rewrite what the voting districts are by years of Democrat/Globalist-Commiecrat demands that illegal aliens, alleged "refugees" and other foreign nationals be census-counted along with U.S. citizens + years of harboring them in violation of our laws, for Commie redistricting and powergrab purposes.]
Fox News YouTube - Ref. #3 @ 5:45-6:11, House Speaker, Paul Ryan, states before the midterm election that a couple of Republican seats are already gone from recent redistricting in Pennsylvania, for example.

More info on the 2020 Census and the Left's Redristricting agenda @ Posts #2 and #4 of 4um Title: Is George Soros Behind This Plot to Topple Trump?

GreyLmist posted on 2018-11-18 01:17:30 Reply Private Reply

#5: GreyLmist To: All (#2)

United States Census | History chart - Wikipedia

[The 1890 census is] notable for the fact [that] it is one of only three for which the original data are no longer available. Almost all the population schedules were destroyed following a fire in 1921.

History Lost: The Tragedy of the 1890 Census - YouTube, 12.5 minutes

Published on Jan 28, 2019
Disaster and bureaucratic mismanagement result in the loss of an irreplaceable historical record, leading to the creation of the U.S. National Archives. This is original content based on research by The History Guy.

GreyLmist posted on 2019-02-05 01:47:28 Reply Private Reply

#6: GreyLmist To: All (#3)

Excluding the citizenship question from the census effectively dilutes the voting power of all American citizens, usually resulting in their higher taxation and much lessened Congressional Representation attentatively (who are not supposed to be pandering at all to illegal aliens and other non-citizen foreigners).

Illegal aliens > 2020 Census > Redristricting:

+ Theft of Electoral College Votes:

Post w/Map of State Electoral Votes @ reddit.com 1 year ago:

California has 9 extra electoral votes due to illegal aliens. This disenfranchises all of South Carolina [9], or Alabama [9], or Montana [3] + Wyoming [3] + North Dakota [3], or Colorado [9]. Entire States are cancelled out by illegal aliens, even if they don't vote (they do). Out out out!

Charlie Kirk's tweet @ Trendsmap about a month ago:

"Illegals should not be counted in the census
Basic projections show that California gets an extra 9 electoral votes because of counting illegals
This disenfranchises Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota, COMBINED!
This is true foreign interference in our election"

GreyLmist posted on 2019-02-05 02:50:44 Reply Private Reply

#7: GreyLmist To: All (#6)

Supreme Court Will Hear Trump Bid to End Obama's DACA Program by Greg Stohr | bloomberg.com | June 28, 2019

The administration is challenging rulings that blocked it from rescinding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, begun under President Barack Obama. Lower courts have said the Trump administration’s explanation -- that the program is illegal -- isn’t adequate.
The decision to intervene comes a day after the high court ruled that the Trump administration hadn’t provided a sufficient justification for its plan to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census. The Supreme Court will hear arguments and rule in the term that starts in October and runs through June 2020.

GreyLmist posted on 2019-06-28 21:24:42 Reply Private Reply

#8: GreyLmist To: All (#7)

the high court ruled that the Trump administration hadn’t provided a sufficient justification for its plan to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census. The Supreme Court will hear arguments and rule in the term that starts in October and runs through June 2020. The Supreme Court will hear arguments and rule in the term that starts in October and runs through June 2020.

What You Need To Know About The SCOTUS Census Question Ruling - YouTube, less than 3 minutes | Published on Jun 28, 2019 by One America News Network | Comments:

"The real Question....Why Did Obama remove it"
"They ask you on a job application"
"Roberts is setting himself up as Judge, Jury, and Prosecutor of 'thought'. He's a supreme court justice, should rule what is and is not constitutional, not make himself 'King'."

GreyLmist posted on 2019-07-25 17:15:52 Reply Private Reply

#9: GreyLmist To: All (#8)

What You Need To Know About The SCOTUS Census Question Ruling - YouTube, less than 3 minutes | Published on Jun 28, 2019 by One America News Network | Comments continued:

"Compromised/politically biased decision." [Because ... ]
"The real question is whether" [non-Citizen] "aliens, illegal or otherwise," alter the apportionment of Electoral Votes for the States and their numerical "representation in congress" [at the Federal level, as well as at the State level - i.e. allocation of government funding, district gerrymandering, etc.]

The people vs. Chief Justice Roberts - YouTube, 8.5 minutes | Published on Jul 8, 2019 by Fox News | Comments:

"Somehow is okay to ask some people [if] they are citizens as long as you don't ask so many that democrats lose power."
"because no one wants to admit how easily our election system is manipulated. Not to mention most media is controlled by liberal Democrats. Just check the demographics of Democratic controlled states. California alone would lose several electoral college votes."

GreyLmist posted on 2019-08-05 18:42:09 Reply Private Reply