On Tuesday, Trump signed a memorandum that claims undocumented immigrants should not be counted in the census. More specifically, he believes they shouldn’t impact how many representatives are apportioned to each state, according to USA Today. An all-but-surprising move considering his attempt (and failure) to add a citizenship question to the census in the past.
“Trump’s strategy to scare immigrants from taking part in the Census is unlawful; it will not stand in the Courts and he knows it. This executive order is the action of a racist, misguided, and troubled president who continues to make unconstitutional attacks on hard-working immigrants in this country to distract from his failure as a leader,” said Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) BOLD PAC Chairman, Tony Cárdenas said in a statement.
“The president depends on immigrants to be on the frontlines of the pandemic, but is determined to erase them from our nation’s most consequential survey—the Census,” he continued. “By attempting to push good, hard-working families into the shadows, Trump fails to realize that he is hurting all Americans.”
According to CNN, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) plans to challenge the memo.
Cárdenas, who was the first Latino elected to represent the San Fernando Valley in Congress, also took the opportunity to push for an additional stimulus check to U.S. Americans fighting through the economic struggles of the pandemic, saying: “Instead of signing another disgraceful and unlawful executive order, President Trump should sign the HEROES Act to save lives, protect frontline workers, and fuel our economy.”
As we know, the census is protected by Title 13 and information on legal status is not accessible to outsiders. “The president mainly needs this in order to know how many seats are needed in the House of Representatives,” Northeast Director of Civic Engagement at NALEO told us earlier this year. In other words, the president of the United States is attempting to use everything/the one thing at his disposal to attempt to mess with how vulnerable communities are represented and served. You can fill out the Census here.