John,

I wanted to make sure you saw Deborah’s email from yesterday because the House could vote as early as tomorrow on legislation that upends the way we apportion seats in the House of Representatives, and allocate federal resources to communities across the U.S.

HR 7109, introduced in the House by Republican Representative Chuck Edwards (N.C.-11), would require the Census Bureau to ask questions about citizenship on the decennial census, the next one taking place in 2030.

These questions are unnecessary and intrusive, and will undermine the census count in every state and community—creating an environment of fear for immigrant and mixed-status families.

Most immigrants are lawfully present; all immigrants pay sales taxes and most also pay income taxes. If we exclude undocumented immigrants from the U.S. Census, we would risk excluding 5.5 million children who are U.S. citizens, but have at least one undocumented parent.¹

Census data informs the allocation of $2.8 trillion annually in federal assistance to states, local communities, and families for a range of needed services. Asking about citizenship will result in many people going uncounted, especially those in low-income communities, and all of their residents will suffer.²

We’re demanding Congress see this legislation for what it is: a cruel and callous way to inflict harm on vulnerable communities for an assumed political gain.

Send a direct message to Congress urging them to vote “no” on this unconstitutional proposal that threatens the U.S. census when the bill comes up for a vote in the House this week.

Thank you for all you do,

Dominique Espinoza
Policy and Strategic Partnerships Manager, CHN Action

¹ Immigration reform can keep millions of mixed-status families together
² Letter to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee

-- DEBORAH'S EMAIL --

John,

House Republicans have introduced an unconstitutional bill, which would require the Census Bureau to ask about citizenship in the census and apportion House seats only based on citizens.

This legislation is nothing more than a xenophobic attack on immigrant communities to serve nefarious partisan purposes.

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution clearly states that the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives is based on a count of “the whole number of persons in each state.” The federal government has allocated seats in the House this way since 1868, consistent with the 14th Amendment.

The federal government also uses the census to allocate funding for services to communities across the country. The inclusion of a citizenship question in the census would have a chilling effect on the number of people who fill out the census form, resulting in a significant undercount in many communities, disproportionately low-income. This is an attack on vulnerable communities and an attempt to undermine our nation’s democratic values and principles. It must be stopped.

Send a direct message to Congress urging them to vote “no” on this right-wing attempt to unconstitutionally skew the U.S. census.

This question has come up before. In the 2016 case, Enwel v. Abbott, a unanimous Supreme Court of the United States pointed out that the 14th Amendment views that “representatives serve all residents, not just those eligible to vote.” Indeed, most immigrants are lawfully present; all immigrants pay sales taxes and most also pay income taxes.

The House is expected to vote on this legislation this week. They need to hear from us now that by passing this bill, Congress is attacking the U.S. Constitution and the foundations of our democracy, and attacking immigrant communities.

Click here to send a direct message to Congress urging them to reject adding a citizenship question to the U.S. Census, to protect its accuracy and the constitutional allocation of House seats.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, CHN Action