New York, NY—Today, Congress passed the GOP’s Equal Representation Act (ERA), which would require the inclusion of a citizenship question in the decennial census. The bill was approved with 206 yes votes from Republicans and 202 no votes from Democrats. This measure would exclude individuals who are not citizens, potentially undermining the accuracy of census data and, thus, undermining our democracy. Now, the bill is set for a vote in the U.S. Senate.
The United States Census counts every individual living in the United States and collects demographic information to determine the distribution of seats in the House of Representatives and allocate federal funding to state and local governments. The proposed legislation would violate the 14th Amendment, which states all people should be counted during the apportionment process.
Murad Awawdeh, President and CEO, New York Immigration Coalition:
“A fair and accurate decennial census is crucial to ensuring a healthy democracy. The inclusion of a citizenship question in the ERA is clearly designed to rig the census by ultimately depriving immigrant-rich states – like New York – of their fair share of political power and funding. Republicans attempted to add this question to the 2020 Census and we fought them all the way to the Supreme Court and won! If the ERA is passed in the Senate, the bill will ultimately result in the erasure of immigrant communities, while denying states like New York of crucial funding and political representation in Washington, D.C. This attempt to use the ERA to fearmonger and intimidate immigrant communities to keep them from exercising their Constitutional right to be included in the decennial census is a page pulled straight from Trump’s white supremacist playbook. Elected officials must resist all attempts to undermine the 2030 Census, our democracy, and our constitutional rights to be included in the census.”