WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The president’s call for undocumented immigrants to not be included in the headcount when determining how to split up congressional seats among the states is facing criticism from some in North Carolina.
Veronica Aguilar with El Pueblo, a Raleigh-based group that works with the Latinx community, labeled it “another fear tactic,” suggesting it could dissuade people from participating in the decennial count.
“It’s meant first and foremost to create this mistrust of the census," she said. "It’s meant to create fear in the immigrant community, in the Latinx community."
The president released a memo earlier this week, outlining why undocumented immigrants should not be considered as part of the apportionment process. Every decade after the census is complete, that data is used to redistribute congressional seats among the states.
In the memo, Trump argued, “Increasing congressional representation based on the presence of aliens who are not in a lawful immigration status would ... create perverse incentives encouraging violations of Federal law.”
In a rebuke on Twitter, Rep. David Price, D-4th District, advised President Donald Trump to go read the Constitution, writing, “In the Census, every person counts, no matter their status.”
Aguilar says El Pueblo has been doing outreach to the Latinx community, encouraging them to fill out the census and to trust that their answers will be confidential.
“It is so important for them to be counted because there are so many resources that a census count - an accurate count - will provide those communities, such as more funding for schools, more funding for construction and rebuilding of roads, teacher salaries,” she said.
Already, there are questions over whether the president’s move is constitutional. Some, including the New York Attorney General, have already signaled they will take the administration to court.
The U.S. Supreme Court previously blocked an attempt by the Trump administration to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
"Another Fear Tactic": Trump's Census Memo Faces Pushback from N.C. Latinx Organization
UPDATED 6:45 AM ET Jul. 23, 2020
PUBLISHED 10:28 PM EDT Jul. 22, 2020