Elgin letter: Census may discriminate against immigrants

Data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau may not seem political or imminently relevant to your life, but I can assure it is both.

The census helps dictate how federal tax dollars are spent, based on how many people live in given communities, and it determines long-term representation at the state and local level.

Now anti-immigrant policy makers are trying to make changes to the census that will endanger everyone's access to health care, and immigrant communities will be hurt the worst.

Countless programs depend on the census to collect accurate data to adequately allocate resources that we all rely on. Adding a question that requires everyone living in the United States to reveal their immigration status is clearly discriminatory and fears of reprisal will likely lead to inaccurate data and reduced funding for these much needed programs.

In this current political climate, immigrant families are already living with daily discrimination, threats of family separation and detention, and fear of harsh immigration enforcement.

It is no surprise that members of immigrant and other marginalized communities will not be eager to reveal their citizenship status to government workers knocking on their doors. With fewer people completing the census, the data will be compromised, resulting in an undercount of marginalized communities, including many immigrant communities right here in Illinois.

At Planned Parenthood Illinois, we believe that no one's access to services should be compromised because they belong to an immigrant family or community; we are committed to fighting alongside a bipartisan group of former census directors, our communities, and partners to speak out against this injustice and call on U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to reverse this decision.

Tell Congress and the Trump administration this is unacceptable.

Maria Valle Coto

Raiz Outreach Coordinator Planned Parenthood

Elgin