programs

2020 CENSUS

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The Con­sti­tu­tion man­dates a count­ing of all per­sons in the U.S every 10 years. This count is regard­less of legal­i­ty of stay. For the first time in Unit­ed States his­to­ry, the 2020 Cen­sus could include a ques­tion around cit­i­zen­ship. If allowed to pass, it would endan­ger immi­grant com­mu­ni­ties, leav­ing them exposed to vio­lence, and hate.

The Cen­sus informs the allo­ca­tion of $800 bil­lion in fed­er­al funds, guid­ing spend­ing on infra­struc­ture, edu­ca­tion, health­care, and pub­lic ben­e­fits. The inclu­sion of a cit­i­zen­ship ques­tion will red flags com­mu­ni­ties of col­or, and might lead to increased sur­veil­lance and polic­ing of immi­grants, specif­i­cal­ly South Asians who already find them­selves at the cross hairs of hate and vio­lence.

We have until August 7th to sub­mit com­ments to the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment. Fol­low these three steps to sub­mit a com­ment:

STEP 1:
Fol­low this link for a sam­ple com­ment let­ter SAALT and Desis Ris­ing Up and Mov­ing (DRUM) cre­at­ed you can use.

STEP 2:
Per­son­al­ize your com­ment.

We need to show the diver­si­ty of voic­es in oppo­si­tion to the cit­i­zen­ship ques­tion. You are encour­aged to per­son­al­ize your com­ment using the data we pro­vid­ed in our webi­nar. Some ques­tions to con­sid­er in per­son­al­iz­ing your com­ment:
  • How will an inac­cu­rate count impact your local com­mu­ni­ty and state?
  • Do you have spe­cif­ic pro­grams or projects fund­ed by the state or local gov­ern­ment that are at risk of being under-fund­ed?
  • How might this impact polit­i­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tion in your com­mu­ni­ties?
  • How will your com­mu­ni­ty demo­graph­ic affect their response rate?
  • Many South Asian fam­i­lies live in mixed-sta­tus house­holds, do they feel safe respond­ing to a cit­i­zen­ship ques­tion?
STEP 3:

Sub­mit your com­ment at: https://goo.gl/LL34xx

 2020 CENSUS RESOURCES
-          2020 Cen­sus Com­mu­ni­ty Work­shop Sup­port Mate­ri­als