'Most vital of questions': Trump laments lack of citizenship question on census

[DonViejo]

Source: Politico


By MATTHEW CHOI 07/02/2019 11:46 PM EDT

President Donald Trump expressed frustration Tuesday night that the 2020 census will not include a citizenship question, adding that his administration is not giving up on the fight.

"A very sad time for America when the Supreme Court of the United States won’t allow a question of “Is this person a Citizen of the United States?” to be asked on the #2020 Census! Going on for a long time," Trump tweeted.

The Commerce Department confirmed earlier Tuesday that the Census Bureau would not ask about citizenship, which Trump had pushed to be included on the 2020 count. Legal experts have argued that asking for citizenship would decrease the number of responses and could lead to inaccurate figures, possibly jeopardizing the accuracy of congressional representation.

Trump has previously proposed delaying the census to sort out the legality of a citizenship question. He said Tuesday night that he "asked the Department of Commerce and the Department of Justice ... to do whatever is necessary to bring this most vital of questions, and this very important case, to a successful conclusion."

Link to tweet

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/02/trump-citizenship-question-census-1396621

[bucolic_frolic]

1. The most vital of questions is "When are you going to resign?"

[ScratchCat]

2. Can someone explain this

"Legal experts have argued that asking for citizenship would decrease the number of responses and could lead to inaccurate figures, possibly jeopardizing the accuracy of congressional representation."

I get this potential, but why wouldn't everyone just check the box that says "citizen"? Why would they not respond at all?

Also, data is "normalized" once collected and analyzed, so this process would probably "fix" any discrepancies caused by "under reporting".

I'm not for adding the question in any way, shape or form - I just wonder if the impact would be what some think. Just curious if anyone else had pondered this.

[Shrike47]

3. It's a federal crime to lie on the census. Trump wants to ask you a question that would incriminate

you. If you are here illegally, you could either admit it, and be deported, or commit a crime and, if caught, be deported. Meanwhile, your district and you are under represented in Congress and get fewer fed dollars.

[Politicub]

4. It's easy. Requiring people to declare citizenship status, coupled

with threats of roundups by ICE, will create an environment of fear. This will depress turnout and make the census less accurate.

The Trump administration tries to use fear as a blunt object to bludgeon people into accepting its whims. His border atrocity is an instrument of state-sponsored fear against immigrants. The immigration question is (was) a pillar of his fear-based approach to governance.

Here’s the relevant text from the constitution.

"Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States ... according to their respective Numbers ... . The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years."[a][1] Section 2 of the 14th Amendment states: "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State ... excluding Indians not taxed ..."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Census

The keywords are “actual enumeration” and “whole number of persons”.

And actual enumeration is an individual count; not an estimate. Whole persons means what it says - the constitution does not carve out undocumented immigrants. Accuracy is also important to get an actual number.

Anything the Trump administration does to depress the number of responses puts it in conflict with its duty-bound responsibility to count everyone.

[ScratchCat]

5. IMO

The reason for the question was simply so he could claim "illegals" voted in the 2020 election. I just don't see the question depressing responses. And again, data is normalized, so it wouldn't matter if there is "under-reporting". Its not like some census worker runs back to their office and conducts a six month investigation to determine of anyone lied either. I just don't think the impact would have been what some thing. Again, not for it and its obvious Trump thinks it somehow helps him to have the question, but I personally do not think it would work out the way some believe.

[Politicub]

7. It's great you're arguing the Trump

administration’s position, but you are ignoring current realities.

If you take the entirety of Trump’s zeal and programs for tormenting undocumented immigrants, it becomes clear that the citizenship question supports Trump’s xenophobic goals.

This article in the Atlantic provides all of the historical and current context you need to understand the motivation for the question at this time. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/court-wants-real-reason-citizenship-question/592864/

[BlueIdaho]

6. The US has been conducting a census since 1790

If knowing “citizenship” had any real value - it would have been added long ago. No, this is more Trump bullshit designed to weaponize just one more aspect of government.