U.S. to add citizenship question in 2020 Census: Commerce Dept

By Brendan O'Brien

 

People walk along Wall Street during the morning commute in the financial district during a winter nor'easter in New York City, U.S., March 2, 2018. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

 

(Reuters) - A question about citizenship status will be reinstated on the 2020 Census to help enforce the Voting Rights Act, federal officials said on Monday, amid concerns that the change will compromise the accuracy of the population count.

 

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross decided to add the question to the count after a Department of Justice request that it says was based on the desire for "more effective enforcement" of the voting law, the U.S. Department of Commerce said in a statement.

 

"Secretary Ross determined that obtaining complete and accurate information to meet this legitimate government purpose outweighed the limited potential adverse impacts," it said.

 

The census, which is mandated under the U.S. Constitution and takes place every 10 years, counts every resident in the United States. It is used to determine the allocation by states of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and to distribute billions of dollars in federal funds to local communities.

 

Opponents of a Census question about citizenship status say it could further discourage immigrants from participating in the count, especially when they are already fearful of how information could be used against them.

 

"This untimely, unnecessary, and untested citizenship question will disrupt planning at a critical point, undermine years of painstaking preparation, and increase costs significantly, putting a successful, accurate count at risk," Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights said in a statement.

 

Test surveys showed in late 2017 that some immigrants were afraid to provide information to U.S. Census workers because of fears about being deported.

 

Immigrants and those who live with immigrants are troubled by confidentiality and data-sharing aspects of the count, Mikelyn Meyers, a researcher at the Census Bureau's Center for Survey Measurement, told a meeting of the bureau's National Advisory Committee in November.

 

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Eric Meijer and Paul Tait)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-03-27

Not to worry. I always say that I am in the U.S. illegally to test the confidentiality of the census. 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

A question about citizenship status will be reinstated on the 2020 Census to help enforce the Voting Rights Act,

Yer... right... I believe this ????

10 hours ago, webfact said:

distribute billions of dollars in federal funds to local communities.

Taking a count of the people in the country helps the Federal government decide what areas of the population are in need of what services such as: welfare, housing projects, parks and other things mandated by the federal government. http://www.censusquestions.com/us-census.html

132 programs used Census Bureau data to distribute more than $675 billion in funds during fiscal year 2015. https://www.census.gov/library/working-papers/2017/decennial/census-data-federal-funds.html

Uses of US Census data: https://www.census.gov/dmd/www/dropin4.htm

 

 

Why would an immigrant be in fear of deportation?

Who's going to cry racism first? 

On 28/3/2561 at 5:00 AM, EVENKEEL said:

Who's going to cry racism first? 

And the winner is: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/380702-naacp-sues-trump-admin-for-failing-to-prepare-to-count-minorities-in

https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2018/03/28/naacp-spearheads-lawsuit-to-overhaul-plan-for-2020-census

 

Along with all the "Blue States" Obama and company helped (to gain voters) by pulling the question from the 2010 census.

This strangely coordinates directly with the location of the majority of states with sanctuary cities.