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It’s that time again. Census time! Once every ten years the federal government counts every single person living in the U.S. of A. in order to effectively allocate representation and resources across the country. It’s an ambitious endeavor, for sure, but one designed to benefit everyone by making sure each community can adequately fund crucial public goods and services, like roads, hospitals, and schools. It determines how many seats each state gets in the U.S. House of Representatives. Also, congressional and state legislative boundaries are drawn and redrawn based on the data collected. Political representation at the state and federal level hinges on census participation. That’s a big deal!
The census count kicked off in March, with its biggest push for people to respond on their own in April, a.k.a. tax month. Although people in the U.S. pay federal income taxes every year, only once every decade do we have the power to influence how those dollars come back to us
The census is a nine-part questionnaire that takes just 10 minutes to complete. To combat all the misinformation flying around about what the census is and how the collected data is used, we’re gonna bust some of the myths and answer a few of the frequently asked questions:
No. The courts have permanently blocked asking respondent their citizenship status and the courts have permanently blocked the Trump administration from adding one. Furthermore, federal law prohibits the Census Bureau from sharing individual census information with any person, organization or government body, including law enforcement. Your responses can only be used for statistical purposes (individual records are released only after 72 years!).
The questionnaire asks for basic demographic information such as age, race, type of housing, etc. It will not ask for compromising or sensitive information like social security numbers, bank account numbers, or immigration status.
Every person living in the United States, regardless of citizenship status, including kids and babies!
Great news! Completing the census questionnaire is literally the easiest it’s ever been. For the first time ever, you can complete the census online at 2020Census.gov or by phone at 844-330-2020. Also, by April 1st, every home will receive a mailed notice to participate in the 2020 Census.
Ideally, Uncle Sam would like to receive your data by April 30th. But as of right now, you can respond on your own all the way until mid-August. If you don’t respond on your own by the end of May, a Census worker may come to your home and ask to record your answers in person. And while it was funny on screen, please do not behave like Christopher Walken in this classic SNL Census sketch.
Yes. The census is safe, your information is handled with the utmost confidentiality meaning that no one can take your data and use it against you. Your individual data will not be shared with any person, organization or government body, including other federal agencies or any law enforcement or housing authorities. It’s to your benefit to participate.
Sure, filling out a form sounds boring, but it helps to think of it as an opportunity to make your voices heard in a way that really matters. That sounds exciting, no? Plus, you only have to spend 10 minutes doing it once every 10 years.
Make sure to pass this information to your friends and family in order to stop the spread of misinformation. If you have any questions, please check out the United States Census Bureau Fact Sheet.
Please visit 2020census.gov for more information.
Today the Supreme Court begins hearing arguments about reintroducing a question pertaining to individual citizenship on the 2020 Census—and it’s a smooth political move. It sounds okay, the administration is just trying to get better information about the residents of different areas, but its outcomes are more than that. Similar to this same administrations’ rhetoric about sending the recent immigrants legally applying for refugee and asylum status to ‘sanctuary cities’ this citizenship question could lead to an overall inaccurate population count that would lower those areas with higher immigrant population and with the census would lower their federal funding received and their political representation. Sound familiar? Both outcomes that would fall in favor with the administration that is pushing and put this change into action.
The obvious argument is, don’t answer (illegal) or lie (more illegal). While both of these options shouldn’t be preferred by the government and aren’t preferred by the immigrants themselves, it’s important to also understand the specific type of immigrant. Along with the rest of my family my Aunt has lived in the US for close to sixty years but retains her original citizenship and has not obtained US citizenship. Chances are, this Supreme Court case won’t impact her as her age, appearance, location and other demographic factors don’t match the politicized “immigrant image” but there are those who do fit into that image. There are those who are citizens and whose families have resided in the US for generations but are believed to be “illegals” the same as those who are here recently but legally and will become frightened about answering this question wrong. As immigrants continue to be in the headlines, here are 5 things about US immigrants and international relationships that people should consider.
Taxes
While certain requirements and programs block immigrants and other recent newcomers from services[i] current legal residents and undocumented immigrants both pay taxes even if they may never be entitled to benefits such as social security, Medicaid, or other tax credits. [ii],[iii] In fact, according to Forbes, an estimated 11.64 billion is paid by just undocumented immigrants every year in state and local taxes.[iv]
Hard Workers
NYC and other cities have been under some heat from the current administration for being ‘Sanctuary Cities’ and allowing undocumented immigrants to be there. This annoyance has led to ‘threats’ of dropping all refugee and asylum seekers into sanctuary cities, related to the upcoming Supreme Court case about the 2020 Census Citizenship question and is full of misinformation as it is believed all immigrants (as the current administration confuses just not liking immigrants with illegal actions by those trying to migrate) are just stealing jobs or not working. In addition to this being false with the earlier facts about taxation (and now possible without representation), immigrants are already a large, hard-working part of the US workforce with foreign-born workers making up 25% of the construction industry, 23.1% of the agricultural industry, 20.1% of arts and entertainment, 19.7% of the Professional, Scientific, Management, Administrative and waste-management and 19.4% of educational services, healthcare and social assistance.[v]
For more understanding of the work ethic of all immigrants, please see this video by clicking the link or going to the end of this post:[vi]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7q3ofdJRKc
Leaders and Influencers
As a great reminder, Time Magazine’s 100 came out earlier last week. With many political leaders, tech entrepreneurs, advocates and other females and immigrants both to the US and around the world were highly recognized with some US examples with Sandra Oh (who recently became a US citizen),[vii] Luchita Hurtado and Leana Wen as a pioneer, an artist and a leader.[viii]
Fellow Human-beings
With the treatment of incoming immigrants who are either coming to improve their lives, the lives of their children, or just trying to survive; the treatment in the US has a few looking back at their home countries reevaluating why they came. Fleeing poverty, famine, gang violence and more, some would say “fine”, “go back”, leave this place”; but is that really where we want the bar to be. As reflecting upon immigrant heritage, strength, work ethic, we should also focus on our own. Many values based on religion and the moral compass highlight how you should always look at what you can give and how you can help, similar as many sayings express the ideas that those who suffer most are always the first to give.
NAFTA and food
A big part of countries’ heritage and culture is connected to food, while NY is known as the melting pot, great food and a lot comes from its great diversity, the importing of food impacts all of the US and not just with avocados. While Apples and Oranges are the top fruits overall, that’s mostly from juice. The top actual fruit is Bananas that mostly come from Equador.[ix] 5% of US apples consumed are imported,[x] mostly during non-peak growing season while the rest of apples are grown in 32 different states and exported to Mexico, Canada and other countries.[xi] However, potatoes are also a big staple in the US and while a big production for agriculture, the US is only able to produce 40% of the demand with the balance coming from Mexico and Canada.x Overall, over 25% of US coffee, spices, fish, fresh fruits and juices, sugar, wine and vegetable oils are imported from outside the US[xii] and this is only some of what is imported.
The 2020 Census citizenship isn’t a harmful question in itself. But with the current administration's attack on immigrants, especially on those just trying to become legal residents and citizens, one cannot blame them for being too scared to be truthful. Again, do we want to be the dictators they are fleeing from, do we want them to remove themselves from the country because they are better than how they are being treated--is that our goal? To be just cruel enough to get “our” way-- in that case good to know, I’ll try to get represented elsewhere.
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[i] The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. The US Department of Health and Human Services Website: Administration for Children and Families. Published November 1st, 1996. Last Accessed: April 23rd, 2019.
[ii] Campbell, A. Trump says undocumented immigrants are an economic burden. They pay billions in taxes. Vox Website. https://www.vox.com/2018/4/13/17229018/undocumented-immigrants-pay-taxes. Published: October 25th, 2018. Last Accessed: April 22nd, 2019.
[iii] Martin, M. Do immigrants pay Taxes? Metro New Website. https://www.metro.us/news/politics/do-immigrants-pay-taxes. Published: June 18th, 2018. Last Accessed: April 22nd, 2019.
[iv] McCarthy, N. How Much Tax Do America's Undocumented Immigrants Actually Pay? [Infographic]. Forbes Website. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2016/10/06/how-much-tax-do-americas-undocumented-immigrants-actually-pay-infographic/#3a9dd3421de0. Published: October 6th, 2016. Last Accessed: April 22nd, 2019.
[v] State Immigration Data Profiles: United States. Migration Policy Institute Website. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/state-profiles/state/workforce/US#. Last Accessed: April 22nd, 2019.
[vi] Few Americans take immigrants' jobs in Alabama. AP Archive Youtube Account. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7q3ofdJRKc. Posted: July 31st, 2015. Last Accessed: April 22nd, 2019.
[vii] Sandra Oh. Monologue. Saturday Night Live Season 44 Episode 16. Aired: March 30th, 2019
[viii] Time 100: The Most Influential People 2019. Time Magazine Website. Accessible at: http://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2019/. Last Accessed: April 22nd, 2019.
[ix] The Most Interesting Fruit in the World (Ep. 375). Freakonomics Radio Archive. http://freakonomics.com/archive/. Posted: April 17th, 2019. Last Accessed: April 22nd, 2019.
[x] United States: Fresh Produce-Imports and Exports. Produce Marketing Association Website. https://www.pma.com/~/media/pma-files/research-and-development/usa.pdf?la=en. Last Accessed: April 23rd, 2019.
[xi] Commodity Apples. Agricultural Marketing Resource Center Website. https://www.agmrc.org/commodities-products/fruits/apples/commodity-apples. Last Revised: December 2017. Last Accessed: April 22nd, 2019.