Donald Trump has proposed to only count each illegal immigrant as 3/5 of a person. The practice of counting a human being as 3/5 of a person is exactly the formula that was used to compute how slaves were once counted for reapportionment.
There are simple, practical considerations involved in this computation, and those considerations affect everyone in a state.
As a personal, Okie, example, reducing the representation here in Oklahoma leaves us with fewer people to fight for our interests if we get a prez who decides to close one or several of our military bases. That’s just one example. There are many, many more.
Formulas that determine how much money goes to things like schools, bridges and healthcare are all based on these census numbers. Financing for things that we tend to ignore until they don’t work such as sewer lines and clean drinking water are all factored into it as well. You may not notice the sewer until it backs up into your house, but it can be a problem if the sewage treatment plant doesn’t work.
Then there’s the simple fact that the Census doesn’t ask people if they are documented or not. That leaves the whole question of enforcing Trump’s ratio entirely up in the air and wide open for any kind of wacko interpretation, abuse or corruption you want to steer through it.
The Catholic bishops reacted to this with what, for the Catholic Church, was lightning speed. In fact, I would say that they reacted with what, for any large governing body, was lightning speed.
The USCCB issued a statement opposing Trump’s these-people-are each-only-3/5-of-a-person order/letter/directive thingy within a day of its publication.
The USCCB’s statement calls Trump’s action “a grave injustice.”
From USCCB:
U.S. Bishops Urge President to Rescind Divisive Memorandum Excluding Undocumented from Inclusion in Apportionment of U.S. House of Representative Seats
July 22, 2020WASHINGTON –On July 21, President Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce ordering that undocumented people counted in the 2020 Census be excluded from consideration when determining the number of U.S. Representatives each state is allotted in the U.S. House of Representatives. Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development and Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville, auxiliary bishop of Washington and chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration issued the following statement:
“As we have stated before, we urge all people to be counted and fully included in the Census. Counting the undocumented in the Census and then denying them and the states in which they reside their rightful representation in Congress is counter to the Constitution and a grave injustice. Furthermore, such a policy makes people feel invisible and not valued as human beings.”
“This action is simply wrong and divisive. We follow the lead of Pope Francis, who has noted that in the face of ‘profound and epochal changes’ that the present moment offers ‘a precious opportunity to guide and govern the processes now under way, and to build inclusive societies based on respect for human dignity, tolerance, compassion and mercy.’ We urge the President to rescind this Memorandum and instead, to undertake efforts to protect and heal our nation and all who are living in our country.”
To learn more about participation in the U.S. Census and information-sharing visit the Justice for Immigrants website.
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Keywords: USCCB, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, President Trump, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville, Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, Committee on Migration, immigration, Census, Executive Order.###
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