Protect the United States Census
The United States Census is a critical once-a-decade count of the U.S. population which is used to draw political districts; allot congressional representatives to states; and fairly distribute federal funds for education, social services, transportation, and other necessities. On August 7th, Trump announced that he was instructing the Commerce Department to conduct a “new” national census to exclude all individuals who are not legal citizens. During his first term in office, Trump similarly attempted to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, but the move was blocked by the Supreme Court with a 5-4 vote.
Excluding noncitizens from the US Census is unconstitutional. The 14th Amendment clearly states that “the whole number of persons in each state” should be counted with no mention of citizenship status. Furthermore, Trump’s illegal proposal would cause states with large immigrant populations to lose seats in the House of Representatives and miss out on funding for needed services.
An accurate, complete census count is essential to fairly allocate both seats in Congress and millions in federal funding. Demand your representatives condemn Trump’s unconstitutional attempts to erase undocumented people from the US Census count.
Contacts for this topic:
Hi, my name is [NAME] and I’m a constituent from [CITY, ZIP].
I’m calling to urge [REP/SEN NAME] to oppose Trump’s efforts to exclude noncitizens from the US Census count. This is an unconstitutional attempt to deny federal funding and congressional representation to states with large immigrant populations.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
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