Posted on Feb 16, 2021
Immigration Hard-Liner Files Reveal 40-Year Bid Behind Trump's Census Obsession
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Even before taking office, former President Donald Trump's administration obsessed over the U.S. census.
From a failed bid for a citizenship question to a presidential memo about unauthorized immigrants that was fast-tracked to the Supreme Court, its moves over the past four years followed a playbook first drawn up more than four decades ago by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
In 1979, the hard-line group that became the most influential advocate for extreme restrictions on immigration launched a campaign that has held onto one consistent goal — obtaining an official count of unauthorized immigrants through the census to radically reshape Congress, the Electoral College and public policy.
Starting with a lawsuit filed weeks before the official start of the 1980 census, FAIR documented its strategy in a paper trail that NPR has reviewed in the organization's archives at the George Washington University, as well as those of FAIR's founder at the University of Michigan.
"It's always been on the agenda," Dan Stein, FAIR's president, tells NPR, noting that it's "very possible" that, as early as November 2016, the group discussed with Trump officials the possibility of excluding unauthorized immigrants from a key set of 2020 census results.
From a failed bid for a citizenship question to a presidential memo about unauthorized immigrants that was fast-tracked to the Supreme Court, its moves over the past four years followed a playbook first drawn up more than four decades ago by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
In 1979, the hard-line group that became the most influential advocate for extreme restrictions on immigration launched a campaign that has held onto one consistent goal — obtaining an official count of unauthorized immigrants through the census to radically reshape Congress, the Electoral College and public policy.
Starting with a lawsuit filed weeks before the official start of the 1980 census, FAIR documented its strategy in a paper trail that NPR has reviewed in the organization's archives at the George Washington University, as well as those of FAIR's founder at the University of Michigan.
"It's always been on the agenda," Dan Stein, FAIR's president, tells NPR, noting that it's "very possible" that, as early as November 2016, the group discussed with Trump officials the possibility of excluding unauthorized immigrants from a key set of 2020 census results.
Immigration Hard-Liner Files Reveal 40-Year Bid Behind Trump's Census Obsession
Posted from npr.orgPosted in these groups: 
Immigration
Immigration
Posted >1 y ago
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Members of my family have been here 400 years. I wonder if they showed their papers?
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I philosophically agree with the concept of removing the count of ILLEGAL immigrants (not naturalized citizens, green card holders, temporary visa holders, etc.) from apportionment counts. Allowing them in creates a perverse incentive for sanctuary cities and sanctuary states. These states can artificially inflate their population to have more power to decide federal law and Presidential elections.
(As a side note, also removing them from the count to determine federal spending I personally believe would give states a great incentive to cooperate with federal law enforcement to secure the border, enforce employment laws, and identify and remove illegal aliens. Sanctuary cities and sanctuary states would, I believe, become a thing of the past as these locations had to support those populations WITHOUT the benefit of federal dollars.)
However... while I agree philosophically with removing illegal immigrants from apportionment, the Constitution is very clear in its requirement to enumerate the "whole number" of persons, not just the number of LEGAL persons. If we count prisoners (which we do), we have to count illegal immigrants. I would support a Constitutional Amendment to change the status quo, but without such and Amendment, they must be counted.
(As a side note, also removing them from the count to determine federal spending I personally believe would give states a great incentive to cooperate with federal law enforcement to secure the border, enforce employment laws, and identify and remove illegal aliens. Sanctuary cities and sanctuary states would, I believe, become a thing of the past as these locations had to support those populations WITHOUT the benefit of federal dollars.)
However... while I agree philosophically with removing illegal immigrants from apportionment, the Constitution is very clear in its requirement to enumerate the "whole number" of persons, not just the number of LEGAL persons. If we count prisoners (which we do), we have to count illegal immigrants. I would support a Constitutional Amendment to change the status quo, but without such and Amendment, they must be counted.
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