What’s at Stake: The Citizenship Question and the Census
On March 26th U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced that the 2020 Census would add a question about citizenship. This last-minute change stunned many including past Census Bureau leaders and current advisors to the Bureau who publicly stated “it would put the accuracy of the enumeration and success of the census in all communities at great risk.” For many, including myself, a naturalized US citizen, this decision showcases the Trump administration’s relentless anti-immigrant rhetoric and attacks on Black and communities of color…and the attempt to erase our communities for years to come.
The addition of the citizenship question, couched in national security language, will certainly add to the unprecedented level of anxiety in immigrant communities and will lead to non-response and lower participation by many immigrants, even those who are citizens and legal permanent residents who live in mixed-status households, out of fear of reporting on their undocumented family members. This anxiety comes from the systemic criminalization of immigrants and people of color, the ramped up detention and deportation of immigrants under this administration, and the attacks on the civil liberties of people of color.
The implications of non-representative census data due to the citizenship question are devastating. The census determines how nearly $800 billion in federal funding is allocated to states and localities including tribal governments, how many congressional seats and electoral votes states receive, and how voting districts are drawn. Illinois has already seen a decrease in its population that could cost the state 1-2 Congressional seats and an undercount could cost us more, as Illinois’ annual $19.7 billion of federal funds could be chipped away.
While the response from state and municipal leaders across the country was immediate – nearly twenty lawsuits (including the city of Chicago and state of Illinois) have been filed calling the addition of the citizenship question a violation of the US constitution and federal laws – the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed a critically important lawsuit around the same time lifting up the fact that the Census is inadequately funded and understaffed, which can lead to more undercounts in communities of color. In fact, the Census Bureau undercounted 1.5 million people of color while over counting white Americans during the 2010 Census ( Mother Jones (17 states sue the Trump administration over Census citizenship question” March, 2018).
As a Chicagoan, immigrant and woman of color, it is clear that adding this question to the Census is just a tactic of the Trump administration’s on-going attack on communities of color to suppress their voice and their power in building a fully engaged and equitable society. What are communities, organizations and elected officials committed to democracy left to do? Organize, organize, organize.
Local community organizations and grassroots leaders on the front lines have been planning how to reach and engage communities for the upcoming Census for months. The addition of the citizenship question serves as a serious barrier to their outreach, organizing and public policy work. Despite the obstacle, advocacy and community organizing groups like the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, West Suburban Action Project, the Chicago Urban League and others have been engaged in defensive work to protect the civil rights of the community and are already involved in census engagement efforts, among other proactive work, including the Illinois Count Me In 2020 campaign. They will continue to organize community stakeholders to make their voices heard during the public comment period of the Census survey this spring or early summer.
As a philanthropist, I ask funders to support the community organizations that have long-standing relationships and have built trust in hard-to-reach communities that are the targets of the criminalization, hyper-incarceration and deportation systems. These groups are engaged in advocacy efforts on issues impacting historically underserved communities; people with disabilities, formerly incarcerated the homeless, poor families. And while their work seems impossible to achieve, they have the proximity, conviction and capacity to break through systemic injustice.
Foundations also need to support early advocacy work to get the citizenship question taken out by engaging in the upcoming hearings by the House Congressional Oversight and Government Reform Committee process and promoting culturally competent hiring and outreach capacity to meet the needs of all residents in this country.
When my mother brought my family to the United States almost 40 years ago, she showed courage in the face of a new and unknown environment. But the anxiety she felt to make sure her children were safe was a huge driver in the decisions she made as a parent. If back then, she was faced with a Census that asked questions about our family that could put us at risk of separation and deportation; she would not have filled it out. To me, this is at the core of the issue at hand, parents and families want to keep their loved ones safe, and therefore questions about citizenship have no place on the Census.
Alejandra L. Ibañez, Program Officer