Will you be counted in the 2020 Census?
The 2020 Census issues have really captured my interest. Before you think I’ve jumped the gun and am looking too far forward, please read the column. My concerns prompted me to write a letter to my favorite TV newscaster, Judy Woodruff, of the PBS News Hour. This program airs locally on ch. 8, KPBS, Public Broadcasting. I trust PBS news. The focus is on facts and contrasting opinions. The News Hour’s primary interest is to inform viewers, entertainment, which is plentiful, is secondary. This is not Fox News.
During a broadcast at the end of March, Mark Shields, a syndicated columnist speculated that the question on the 2020 Census asking about respondents’ citizenship might deter many immigrants from completing the census survey. Mark is a good guy and politically savvy. He understands national politics and political parties. However, as much of the PBS staff and correspondents, he suffers from East coast bias. I have no doubt that the new 2020 Census questions will deter legal and non-documented immigrants from answering the census.
Therefore, I have requested the PBS News Hour to tap into the knowledge of media and academics in California and Texas that study immigrant populations. Mexico sends the largest percentage of immigrants to the U.S. living in the Valley, it is apparent that immigration populations live in constant fear of arrest, deportation and family separation. One doesn’t need to go beyond the evening news or this newspaper to be informed of the large number of immigrant arrests in recent months. Even second generation legally immigrated families often have a member who is undocumented and, thus, fear giving information to the federal government that might be used against that family.
Although the U.S. Census Bureau, part of the Department of Commerce, is forbidden by law to share specific names and addresses of census respondents with any other government agencies, people won’t believe this. Suspicion of the current administration runs so high that immigrants shun sharing information with the feds. The administration’s argument for including a citizenship question, the first since 1950, is that it needs the data to better enforce the Voting Rights Act. The demographic information gathered in the census, according to the Census Bureau, will help government agencies “to set and evaluate immigration policies and laws…, and understand the experience of different immigrant groups.” The information also helps agencies to tailor services to “accommodate cultural differences.”
The most important argument for completing the census and returning it to the Census Bureau is that the total data collected determines the size of congressional districts, your voice in Washington, D.C. If an area is undercounted, it could lose a representative to congress. Because of the addition of the question concerning citizenship, it is anticipated that California could lose one congressional representative and, thus, a voice in determining national spending and policies. Additionally, census counts determine the amount of federal funds, more than $675 billion, allocated to areas for Medicaid, children’s health, transportation, and other programs. So if our area is undercounted, resources are undermined. The Valley is poor enough without receiving its share of federal monies.
Controversy? You bet. States and Latino groups have sued arguing that the question on citizenship, during this time of political anti-immigrant turmoil, will undercount legal and undocumented immigrants. The Constitution simply says to “enumerate” the population with some key caveats. Following current law, “Decennial U.S. Census figures are based on actual counts of persons dwelling in U.S. residential structures.”
Conservatives are supportive of the citizenship question since they see it as a win for rural, Republican areas, at the expense of big cities which vote heavily Democrat. They would prefer to exclude non-citizens. There is tremendous irony in this since conservatives adhere to a strict, literal interpretation of the US Constitution which states, “…counting the whole number of persons in each state.”
I can’t promise that the Census Bureau will continue to abide by the law, although, I expect it will under threat of the courts. So when 2020 rolls around, fill out that census form online. Be counted!