US Census Evaluates Plan to Omit Data on Immigrants and Race
· Telemundo McAllen (KTLM)
The United States government has proposed a drastic reform to its national census that could exclude key data on race and ethnicity, as well as millions of immigrants based on their status, potentially jeopardizing resource allocation and the country's electoral map. The possible changes, announced on Wednesday, would exclude immigrants living in the country illegally, asylum seekers, and anyone without permanent status. Certain demographic questions from the traditional questionnaire would also be removed. This echoes a previous proposal by President Donald Trump to add a citizenship question to the 2030 census. In a post on the Federal Register website, the Census Bureau argued that 'illegal aliens (among others) should not be included in the apportionment count, as they are not true inhabitants, members of the political body, or people with a 'usual residence' in the United States due to their lack of sufficient ties and loyalty to the United States.' The census 'should be impartial regarding color and should not be distorted in any way with questions about immaterial personal characteristics, such as race,' the agency added. It is also considering eliminating questions related to individuals identifying as part of the LGBTQ+ community. These changes would harm data quality, said Beth Jarosz, data researcher and vice president of the Association of Public Data Users. 'Not counting all the people who reside here is, in fact, where the real threat lies,' Jarosz stated. 'If you think about all the ways census data is used.' Census figures are traditionally used for an 'apportionment count' to determine how many seats each state will have in the federal House of Representatives. This count also determines the number of votes in the Electoral College. 'You can imagine if there are people you don't count or if there are people counted in the wrong place,' Jarosz noted. 'Then their political power or political representation gets diluted.'
AI summary · Source: Telemundo McAllen (KTLM) →
