Opinion: Trump wants to reframe the census to fit his definition of America, not protect Americans

NBC "News" ^ | March 29, 2018 | by Michelle Chen

[Oldeconomybuyer]

The purpose of an accurate census count is to help the government understand the people for whom it is responsible — full stop. A fully inclusive census is vital for informing policy-making, whether determining how many roadways are required for a region’s population, monitoring local public health trends or ensuring our tax dollars are fairly allocated to school districts.

Trump’s move to add a citizenship question to the census follows months of intense opposition across Washington and civil society. Asking about citizenship status (a question that federal authorities have deliberately left off the census since 1950) risks alienating many prospective respondents and depressing the count of our population. Despite seemingly neutral wording, under an administration that is notoriously hostile to immigrants, the question shades the otherwise banal census form with a chilling tone of “papers, please.”

Querying about citizenship would at best make the census process more chaotic and less effective; at worst, it risks validating and codifying citizenship status as threshold of social legitimacy for a growing immigrant population.

By attempting to reframe the census to fit his definition of America, Trump is stealthily molding a new political reality: A nation matching Trump’s vision of “great again” seems increasingly divided by race and borders, and less democratic for native- and foreign-born alike.

Nonetheless, the real America pushes beyond the borders of the White House’s cherry-picked Republic. The rising public resistance to the impending policy and brewing court battles show that, regardless of how they are reflected in the official survey, people will continue to voice their uncompromising demands for representation and equality before the law. Whether we exist on paper or not, we all have a right to stand and be counted.

[Bigg Red]

Well said.

[Does so]

Dims are going to instruct Illegals to declare themselves citizens anyway. :-(

[LIConFem]

Once again, the left’s accusations reflect their own past and current actions.

[null and void]

I’ve always wondered how illegal aliens had as much political power as they have. Now I know. I never thought about the allocation of congressional seats in their relation to the number of illegals counted in the census.

Perhaps we should resurrect the 3/5^th rule? This rule prevented the slave states from having overwhelming clout in the House, and prevented them from imposing legal slavery on the entire country.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

I will point this out...if you take the number of non-Americans in the country at 22-million

I will point out that 22 million illegal aliens equals the entire population of Nevada, New Mexico, Nebraska, West Virginia Idaho, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska, North Dakota, DC, Vermont, and Wyoming.

[null and void]

The purpose of an accurate census count is to help the government understand the people for whom it is responsible — full stop.

Why is our government responsible for coddling illegal aliens? — mic drop.

[DAC21]

Ms Chen ugly in every way. Not to mention just wrong.

[Bryan24]

People this stupid should not be allowed to write articles.

[Bryan24]

Yeah, I saw that, too.

[DoodleBob]

Michelle Chen is a contributing writer at The Nation, a contributing editor at Dissent and a co-producer of the “Belabored” podcast and Asia Pacific Forum on WBAI FM.

For those of you not aware, WBAI is the Pacifica radio station out of NYC. That says volumes about the author.

Had Ms. Chen done her homework, she'd find out that questions beyond a simple count are Constitutional:

It is constitutional to include questions in the decennial census beyond those concerning a simple count of the number of people. On numerous occasions, the courts have said the Constitution gives Congress the authority to collect statistics in the census. As early as 1870, the Supreme Court characterized as unquestionable the power of Congress to require both an enumeration and the collection of statistics in the census. The Legal Tender Cases, Tex.1870; 12 Wall., U.S., 457, 536, 20 L.Ed. 287. In 1901, a District Court said the Constitution's census clause (Art. 1, Sec. 2, Clause 3) is not limited to a headcount of the population and "does not prohibit the gathering of other statistics, if 'necessary and proper,' for the intelligent exercise of other powers enumerated in the constitution, and in such case there could be no objection to acquiring this information through the same machinery by which the population is enumerated." United States v. Moriarity, 106 F. 886, 891 (S.D.N.Y.1901).

For what it's worth, and I'm not saying this is the intent (since being in this country illegally is, well, illegal already) but mailing back a Census form and lying on the Citizenship question would likely constitute mail fraud.

Or, perhaps, the intent of the question is to get a real count of the citizenry, and re-balance the House and Electoral College...

[Wuli]

Note to NBC and the author of its oped piece.

Asking about citizenship was there until 1950, so the real question is if it was not wrong to ask about citizenship in all that time, why was it removed?

I’m sure they can’t answer.

[zencycler]

Trump reframes the census to fit the Constitutional definition of America, and to uphold his oath of office to preserve and protect The Constitution.

[Heart of Georgia]

“The only reason not to determine citizenship in the census is so they can count illegals as citizens.”

Exactly, as we are effectively under represented.

[manc]

Liberals for some reason have no understanding how this republic works, or is supposed to work.

[Will88]

What a long winded spiel that said very little. The woman just wants as many illegal aliens counted in the census as possible to continue the over-representation in Congress of mostly blue states with large populations of illegals.

Of course, they are all just “immigrants” to her, as she wants to see the current state of lawlessness continue for political reasons of her own.

[circlecity]

"Asking about citizenship status (a question that federal authorities have deliberately left off the census since 1950)"

That is a lie. Only the 1960 census didn't ask about citizenship. In 1970 the question again appeared on every long form census questionnaire and continued thereon until Obama cancelled it in 2010.

[MosesKnows]

his definition of America

Trump's definition is America and therefore American.

What is your definition of America?

[DiogenesLamp]

Ping.

You may not immediately see what this has to do with the Civil War, but then again you might.

"Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men"

[olezip]

Querying about citizenship would at best make the census process more chaotic and less effective; at worst, it risks validating and codifying citizenship status as threshold of social legitimacy for a growing immigrant population.

Asking about citizenship status is a necessary question for many valid reasons. What is the purpose of the census?

Do we have people in this country who do not want to be counted in the census?

It is important that the citizenship status of all of the people living in the USA be determined because it impacts many policy decisions, including allocation of resources (esp. entitlements), adjustment of the number of representatives, illegal voting, and so on.

Would those who refuse to take the census be removing themselves from the voter polls and from the government feeding trough?

[Skywise]

Hey Michelle... how does asking ONE question on a census “reframe America”?

Do we not wish to be an informed and educated public?

Perhaps the number will not be as you fear - it’s not as if the illegal immigrants were going to fill out the census anyway.

Or do you insist on facts being buried and hidden to continue to perpetuate your baseless accusations?