Census should focus on citizens, not residents

Our Founding Fathers were very wise in writing the U.S. Constitution, but their mandate to survey all U.S. residents and not U.S. citizens every decade was troubling for them. At the time of slavery, the slaves weren't citizens to vote and although women were citizens, they could not vote until the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Census Bureau has truncated the mandated Census data to gender, race, age, household size and homeownership. However, the American Community Survey (conducted every year) samples about 2.6 percent of residents in collecting information, including citizen status and country of origin. But the mandated Census is used in reapportioning the House of Representatives and doling out more than $600 billion in federal funds to all U.S. residents, not to U.S. citizens who vote for representatives.

The Census favors the resident population and not the citizens having a right to vote. In 1950, the state of California had 30 representatives in Congress and in 2000, the representatives totaled 53, or a gain of 56 percent. Lawmakers in California passed "sanctuary state" legislation and the undocumented immigrant population is critical to the state's economic success.

If the application for voter registration specifically asks the question of applicant, "I am a citizen of the United States," why can't the Census Bureau ask the same question?

Robert Meale

Crystal Lake