A memorandum issued by Donald Trump today stating that undocumented immigrants should not be included in the 2020 Census received swift pushback from immigrants’ rights groups, legal experts and political opponents.
The memo, which is considered a legal document, said, in part, “respect for the law and the protection of the integrity of the democratic process warrant the exclusion of illegal aliens from the apportionment base, to the extent feasible and to the maximum extent of the President’s discretion under the law.”
Julie Menin, Director of the NYC Office of the Census, clarified the intent of the document to NY1.
“Basically, what he’s saying is that if you’re undocumented, you would not count towards your seat in Congress. That is absolutely, patently, unconstitutional," said Menin.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James is among those taking legal action to stop the order from taking effect.
“No one ceases to be a person because they lack documentation,” James said. “Under the law every person residing the U.S. during the Census, regardless of status, must be counted. We will continue to lead this fight because we will not allow the Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies to tip the balance of power in the nation.”
Steve Choi, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, also issued a statement on the matter.
“Once again Donald Trump chooses ineptness and illegal behavior, instead of what’s right for the country. It is another futile effort to interfere in the U.S Census," the statement read. Choi emphasized that the document would not stand up to legal scrutiny, adding, “but that’s not the point – the real goal is to depress the Census count by trying to discourage s immigrants from participating in the Census, to subvert our democracy by gerrymandering district lines and to ensure that immigrant-rich states like New York don’t get fair access to representation, or their fair share of federal dollars.”
The Census, which is taken every ten years, helps allocate federal spending to cities and states across the country, and helps determine how district lines are drawn.
For New York City, an undercount in the Census could be particularly disastrous. Nearly 23,000 New Yorkers have died of Coronavirus. More than 40% have fled the city, either to escape COVID or because they are among the 1.9 million New Yorkers who have lost their jobs and can no longer afford the city’s high rents.
The Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration’s attempt to add a citizenship question to the Census in 2019, meaning Census takers are forbidden from asking whether a respondent is a citizen or not, so it is not clear how information on immigration status would be obtained.
Groups like the NYIC and the American Civil Liberties Union, who fought the legal battle against the citizenship question, say they will fight this order in court as well, arguing that Article 14 of the Constitution states that everyone who lives in the U.S. must be counted in a Census.
In a statement, the ACLU said, “reminder, we won at the Supreme Court last year against the administration’s last anti-immigrant Census scheme. If Trump issues this unconstitutional order, we’ll win again.”