The next census survey must count every person living in the United States on April 1, 2010.
Period. End of discussion.
Or is it?
Some senators would rather exclude some people from the count. Like illegal immigrants, for starters.
Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) introduced a bill last week that would require a decennial census questionnaire to ask whether the respondent is a citizen or a legal resident.
He and other Republicans who authored the bill apparently don’t want congressional districts to be apportioned based on the total number of inhabitants in an area, but rather on the total number of citizens and legal residents.
If such a change were to be made, areas that are home to large numbers of illegal immigrants or non-citizens could lose out during redistricting.
U.S. Census Bureau director defends time-honored count of all residents, legal or not
When asked whether it would be possible to add a citizenship question, U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Groves implied that it wasn’t, yet he tried to tread lightly as he answered the politically loaded question. He conceded that part of Congress' role is to discuss how the census should be run and that bills to tweak the process are to be expected every 10 years around census time. When Congress passed the Census Act in March 1790, the point was that the decennial census should count everyone living in the country, he noted at a press briefing on Sept. 23.
The proposal to count just citizens and legal residents would mark a radical departure from the basic directive to count all inhabitants, regardless of status.
What’s more, a lot of the forms for next year’s survey are already printed, Groves said. “That train has left for the 2010 census clearly,” he added.
The 2010 census questionnaire does not ask for anyone’s immigration status. Past decennial censi have asked about citizenship status. For example, the 1820 census asked whether those foreigners were not naturalized. By 1900, the census was asking which year the person immigrated to the U.S. By 1970, the naturalization question had been relegated to the long form, which went to a fraction of respondents. Other, less inclusive surveys that the census runs including the American Community Survey and the Current Population Survey do ask about citizenship.
Asking a citizenship question could taint the accuracy of the census
In testimony before the House Subcommittee on Federalism and the Census in Dec. 2005, then census bureau head, Charles Kincannon, noted that asking all respondents whether they were citizens could scare them away from responding to the census.
“Even U.S. citizens may be wary of answering questions about citizenship,” he said. “The mere act of asking about the residency status of an individual may confuse or discourage respondents, even legal residents and citizens, and could affect the overall accuracy of the census.”
For more news related to the 2010 Census:
How you can help the government limit spending at "census time"
More stories you might like:
- Top 10 states where you'll find the foreign-born in the U.S.
- U.S. teen birth rates are high in states where conservative religious beliefs prevail
- How the recession has forced women to rethink motherhood
- Centuries-old approach to all-inclusive U.S. census comes under attack
- Census: The most highly educated population in the U.S. lives in D.C.
- How a rise in the share of youth in poorer countries could lead to unrest
- Two is enough or how an Islamic republic made contraceptives a regular part of daily life
- Iran's family planning program led to a dramatic decline in family size
- Size matters when they test condoms at a factory in Iran [see video]
- Something fishy about our eating habits
For more info:
- Fairness in Representation Act
- Census Act of 1790 [Here you'll find the authorizing legislation behind the census as we know it.]
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