Citizenship question doubts linger over census

Immigrants are still wary of responding to forms for the upcoming U.S. Census despite deleting a citizenship question, say Northwest Arkansas advocates of a full census count.

Mireya Reith of Fayetteville, founder of the Springdale-based immigrant advocacy group Arkansas United, said the Trump administration's attempt to ask the question had a chilling effect.

"In the end, it didn't happen," she said of the question's inclusion. "But after the administration insisting it wanted the citizenship question on there and going all the way to the Supreme Court, distrust of the administration went deeper and not just in the immigrant community."

A field test by the U.S. Census Bureau checked for such concerns and found few, the regional director of the bureau said in a statement Friday.

The figures obtained in the census are used in determining U.S. House and state legislative districts. They also directly affect how much federal taxpayer money for various programs is received by states and cities.

A U.S. Supreme Court decision on June 27 took the question of citizenship off the forms. The U.S. Census Bureau has done field tests concluding any residual effect of the question is minimal, a spokesman for the bureau's regional office in Chicago said Friday.

The Census Bureau did a test this summer to study the response to the census, including responses when a citizenship question was included, Marilyn A. Sanders, Chicago regional director for the U.S. Census Bureau, said Friday.

The test used a representative, randomized sample and was designed to find out how many people the bureau would need in the follow-up to count people who didn't fill out forms at the first request, Sanders said.

"The major finding of the test was that there was no difference in self-response rates between forms with and forms without a citizenship question," the bureau said.

Some differences in response rates were found in some groups, but they were "small," the bureau said.

"Everybody's response to the 2020 Census is easy, safe and secure, and the U.S. Census Bureau is required by federal law to keep all responses strictly confidential," according to Sanders.

"All individuals who respond to the 2020 Census should know that their responses cannot be used for law enforcement purposes and can only be used to produce statistics. From the moment we collect your responses, our goal -- and legal obligation -- is to keep them safe. Every Census Bureau employee takes an oath to protect your information. We have been sworn for life to protect the confidentiality of your data. We could go to jail or be fined up to $250,000 if we violate that oath."

Still, Northwest Arkansas advocates aren't taking any chances concern among immigrants and other groups might undermine the count.

How much distrust remains is hard to measure, said Laura Kellams of Fayetteville. Kellams is a member of the Arkansas Correct Count Committee, a statewide coalition of groups seeking the most accurate count attainable. She's also Northwest Arkansas director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, a nonprofit group.

"We're glad the question won't be on the census, because it's not necessary and had the potential to discourage participation among all immigrant families -- regardless of status," Kellams said.

"We do worry that the administration's initial insistence on the question and all the coverage surrounding it could still result in less participation among immigrant communities. That could have a real impact on the count statewide and especially here in Northwest Arkansas."

"At the community level, the most important thing is for immigrant families to hear from people in their own communities, trusted messengers who are well-informed about the law and why all families have a personal stake in a complete count. That personal stake could mean better schools, health systems or just the streets and sidewalks they use every day. For example, organizations like Arkansas United and their partners are planning door-to-door outreach efforts, which will really help."

The U.S. Constitution requires a census every 10 years, a count of everyone living in the United States. The next census will be done next year.The U.S. Census Bureau planned to ask responders for the first time since 1950 if they are citizens.

The question was dropped in the 1960 census because administrators found asking the question affected the accuracy of the tally by discouraging full responses by non-citizens, according to U.S. Census Bureau records.

Fewer responses lead to under-counts in areas with high immigrant populations, census-takers concluded. Under-counts can mean under-representation in Congress or in state legislatures. They also can lead to inaccurate distribution of taxpayer money allocated through federal programs, said critics of the citizenship question.

Several of those critics sued to have the question removed. The court removed the question on the grounds the Census Bureau's parent department, the U.S. Department of Commerce, failed to follow proper procedure to add the question.

Noncitizens, including those legally in the United States, are wary their status could be used against them considering President Donald Trump's support for including the citizenship question, Reith said. Reluctance to fill out census forms can come from a number of other reasons, including a general distrust of the government, she said.

One group advocates believe was seriously under-counted in the last census was Marshall Islanders legally residing in Northwest Arkansas. Reith, Kellams, state Marshallese advocates such as Melisa Laelan, director of the Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese, and Sanders all brought this group up in recent interviews.

"The Chicago region's partnership team continues to work closely with Springdale Mayor Douglas Sprouse and leaders from the Springdale Chamber of Commerce," Sanders said. "This team has been in close contact to help build an effective strategy to communicate the safety, security and importance of gaining a complete Marshallese count resulting from the 2020 Census."

Groups such as Arkansas United nationwide began discussing ways to get reluctant groups to participate, Reith said.

The best approaches seem to be those tailored to specific area needs, not general appeals. For instance, pointing out how an accurate census count helps local schools by making them eligible for more federal taxpayer support is effective in Northwest Arkansas, she said.

Meanwhile, in De Queen in southwest Arkansas, efforts to get federal money to get a local hospital is proving effective, she said.

Getting local businesses and philanthropists involved also appears to be effective, Reith said.

The Census Bureau has been a big help in providing assistance and information, Reith said.

"Every meeting we've had with Census Bureau officials reassures us they want as good a count as possible," she said.

State and local governments have also proved very supportive, she said.

The message needs to come from trusted local people, said both Reith and Katheryn Birkhead, chairwoman of Springdale's Complete Count Committee, a group set up to encourage participation in the census from that city.

Springdale has had excellent participation so far, Birkhead said.

"With very few exceptions, we've received the help we wanted every time we've asked for it," she said. "And we've had people come up to us and ask to join in."

Reith still doubts whether the efforts will be enough to ensure a reasonably complete count, she said.

"To be honest, this is an unprecedented movement," she said. "Although this all bodes well, I'm not certain if we're there yet."

NW News on 12/08/2019