Wilbur Ross Overruled Career Officials at Census Bureau to Add Citizenship Question

[DonViejo]

Source: ProPublica




The Commerce secretary wrote a memo arguing that the benefits of the controversial question would outweigh any harm.

by Justin Elliott March 27, 1:33 p.m. EDT

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross’ decision Monday to add a controversial question on citizenship to the 2020 census came in the face of opposition from career officials at the Census Bureau who fear it will depress response rates, especially from immigrants.

Two people with knowledge of the deliberations said career leaders in the Census Bureau, which is part of the Commerce Department, had scrambled to come up with alternatives to adding the question. Those efforts were unsuccessful.

In a memo announcing his decision, Ross said that “The Census Bureau and many stakeholders expressed concern that [a citizenship question] would negatively impact the response rate for non-citizens.”

But Ross added that “neither the Census Bureau nor the concerned stakeholders could document that the response rate would in fact decline materially.”



Read more: https://www.propublica.org/article/wilbur-ross-overruled-career-officials-at-census-bureau-to-add-citizenship-question?

[sandensea]

1. These people have sunk to Nigerian dictatorship levels

Demographers have always had a problem determining just how many people were in Nigeria - Africa's most populous nation, with around 200 million or so (no one knows exactly).

The main reason? Because population figures for certain regions would vary wildly, depending on who was in power. Regions with large populations of whatever ethnicity had fallen out of favor would be grossly undercounted, and vice versa.

That this is being pulled in the U.S., is beyond the pale.

[democratisphere]

2. Wilbur Ross is a lowlife scum insisting to include this question.

[cp]

3. Rotten cabinet, wizened putz

Wilbur Ross, the former vice-chairman of the Bank of Cyprus, well known for laundering Russian oligarchs' money? Or his business links to Putin family? https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/05/trump-commerce-secretary-wilbur-ross-business-links-putin-family-paradise-papers

Why is the census under the Commerce Dept?

[mpcamb]

23. He ought to be in court. Where are the advocates who could charge him?

[LonePirate]

4. Yet another department head ignoring the experts in favor of ridiculous partisan pandering.

[deminks]

5. Wilbur Dearest, your little funny question is unconstitutional

and several states have joined to sue your ass.

Have a nice day.

https://www.google.com/search?q=census+question+suit&oq=census+question+suit&aqs=chrome..69i57.6623j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

I think we should add a question to the census about how many gunz in your household. See how many reich wingers pucker and don't participate because they are afraid.

[BigmanPigman]

7. CA is one of them.

The blue state AGs are working overtime with the fucking moron in the W House.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Doing genealogical research on my family from 1890 onward,

there were past federal censuses that asked whether my relatives were "naturalized" or asking the year of naturalization. But in 1900 or 1910, it was a different country where ICE agents didn't pound on the front door of the family home and deport members who didn't apply for citizenship.

[BigmanPigman]

8. Good point.

The immigrants were welcomed at the time. Being a "melting pot" was a positive thing and the country was proud of it. I guess the anti-immigrants like Ann Coulter is a Native American and her relatives weren't immigrants. Hmmmm.....she needs to have her DNA done and go on Finding Your Roots.

[the_sly_pig]

9. Ohhh Wilbur..... :/

[Squaredeal]

10. Every American should just refuse to answer this question.

Didn't the Nazis during WWII ask the Dutch on their census form if they had any Jewish grandparents? This is just a way to separate the citizens from the non-citizens and then to investigate immigrants to determine if they are legal residents or not in order for "Homeland Security" to find and persecute the undocumented ones.

[iluvtennis]

12. I'm gonna test the system and answer that I'm an immigrant. I want to see if ICE comes looking

for me at which time, I'll pull out my born in the USA birth certificate, my military vet papers, etc. Laugh will be on them with this Unconstitutional, absurd, ridiculous question.

[Rural_Progressive]

14. I'm not a native American and my wife is from Sweden

we will both answer that we are immigrants. Since only Native Americans are the only non-immigrants among us I guess there could be close to 300 million immigrants answering yes to that question.

[iluvtennis]

22. Totally agree that native American Indians are the only non-immigrants in the US. This will b fun.

[aggiesal]

11. " ...would negatively impact the response rate for non-citizens.

No, this will negatively impact the response rate from citizens!!!

Don't expect me to fill mine out as long as that question exists.

This is purely a witch hunt for illegal immigrants.

[The Mouth]

20. It's more subtle and nefarious than that

By suppressing responses from areas with a high proportion of undocumented immigrants it will shift votes and money to red areas. It's not about finding undocumented folks, at least not directly, it is about shifting congressional representation, since the undocumented won't answer at all out of fear they'll be undercounted, costing those areas in a very long term way. Actually far more harmful to blue areas in the long run.

[yallerdawg]

13. "Voting rights?" Each state takes care of that, and the Fed is our enforcer for issues!

It would be the first time since 1950 that the full, once-a-decade census asks people about their citizenship. The Constitution requires a count of all residents of the country every ten years. The Census Bureau conducts a separate detailed survey of a sample of U.S. households that includes questions about citizenship.

[Igel]

21. Yes.

But the question was on the long form as of the 2000 census; it just wasn't on the short form.

The 2010 census did not have a long form, so it's not like it was removed from the census form. A lot of questions were no longer asked when the long form vanished for the last census. Specifying that the citizenship question was not longer asked is true, but it's over-emphasized, leading one to conclude it was an intentional act to remove that one specific question. It wasn't.

[TNNurse]

15. So if this "question" really shows up on the census form, and I refuse to answer it,

what harm will do that to my community????

[Old Terp]

16. If you answer the rest of the questions, nothing should happen.

I think there are still rules that allow an "incomplete" questionnaire to pass without followup if less than X number of questions are unanswered. You should answers the basic "normal" questions. Census data affects the allocation of moneys. Also, those last congressional districts to be allocated to the States can be determined by a small number of people. As every vote counts, every person counts. Congressional Districts are determined by US residents, not citizens.

[TNNurse]

17. Well, that is how it is supposed to be determined.

I do not trust the government or anyone in this administration right now.

[Ilsa]

18. So if everyone who is an immigrant lies on the form, what happens?

Can they be charged with falsifying a federal document? How would they be found out?

[Old Terp]

19. Form arrives in processing center. Form is processed as complete.

It's confidential information. No one is going to look at it, and Census is not going to include in a followup. I bet money for any followup is pennies.