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sl8

(13,912 posts) Thu Aug 9, 2018, 10:03 PM Aug 2018

U.S. census citizenship question panned by scientists, civil rights groups

Source: Reuters

AUGUST 9, 2018 / 8:14 PM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

Nick Brown

(Reuters) - As the U.S. government closed a public comment period on Wednesday on its plans for the 2020 census, scientists, philanthropists and civil rights groups used the occasion to again criticize plans to include a question about U.S. citizenship.

The comment period gave any member of the public a chance to comment on aspects of the census which is a mandatory, once-a-decade count of the U.S. population that next occurs in April 2020.

The comments have not yet been published, but some groups and individuals reinforced their opposition to the Trump administration’s plan to ask census respondents whether they are U.S. citizens.

At least 250,000 people have called for removing the question, according to a coalition of civil rights groups, led by the Leadership Conference Education Fund here on Wednesday.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-census-citizenship/u-s-census-citizenship-question-panned-by-scientists-civil-rights-groups-idUSKBN1KV00T

4 replies

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Highlight:

U.S. census citizenship question panned by scientists, civil rights groups (Original Post) sl8 Aug 2018 OP

K&R ck4829 Aug 2018 #1

Citizenship questions melm00se Aug 2018 #2

Excellent. sl8 Aug 2018 #3

Why would they do that? melm00se Aug 2018 #4

ck4829

(35,093 posts)

1. K&R

Reply to sl8 (Original post)

Fri Aug 10, 2018, 07:48 AM

Aug 2018

melm00se

(4,996 posts)

2. Citizenship questions

Reply to sl8 (Original post)

Fri Aug 10, 2018, 09:40 AM

Aug 2018

have been, off and on, part of the census questionnaire up to the 2010 census.

List of questions by census

This is a legitimate question to ask as part of this process.

Based upon the questions from the above link, the article is incorrect stating that the "census would ask citizenship status for the first time since 1950".

Q13 from 2000: Is this person a citizen of the United States?

1990: Is this person a citizen of the United States?

1980: If this person was born in a foreign country...
Is this person a naturalized citizen of the United States?
When did this person come the United States to stay?

1970: For persons born in a foreign country- Is the person naturalized?

and on and on.

sl8

(13,912 posts)

3. Excellent.

Reply to melm00se (Reply #2)

Fri Aug 10, 2018, 10:20 AM

Aug 2018

Last edited Fri Aug 10, 2018, 11:04 AM - Edit history (1)

I appreciate the fact check.

Did a little more digging and found this fact check from NPR:

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/27/597436512/fact-check-has-citizenship-been-a-standard-census-question

FACT CHECK: Has Citizenship Been A Standard Census Question?

March 27, 2018 8:02 PM ET
Tamara Keith

After a controversial decision by the Department of Commerce to add a question about U.S. citizenship to the 2020 census, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended the move as nothing out of the ordinary.

The claim
"This is a question that's been included in every census since 1965," Sanders said Tuesday, "with the exception of 2010, when it was removed."

The short answer
This statement is inaccurate, incomplete and misleading. A quick history of the decennial survey makes that clear.

...

But if the 2020 census form does ultimately ask about citizenship status, it will be the first time the question will be asked of all U.S. households since 1950.

More at link.

If the NPR article is correct, Reuters should have included the "be asked of all U.S. households" qualifier in their statement.

melm00se

(4,996 posts)

4. Why would they do that?

Reply to sl8 (Reply #3)

Fri Aug 10, 2018, 11:00 AM

Aug 2018

that would indicate a higher level of journalism than what seems to be the norm of the current generation of journalists.

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