07.11.2019

WASHINGTON -- Today, the Trump administration announced that it will issue an executive order requiring government agencies to compile and send records on citizens and noncitizens to the Department of Commerce, as the administration dropped its effort to add a citizenship question directly to the 2020 census questionnaire. Concurrently, homeland security officials confirmed that beginning Sunday, it would hold raids nationwide to arrest thousands of members of undocumented families. In response to this series of attacks on the livelihoods and political power of immigrant communities, the Center for Popular Democracy released the following statement from Ana Maria Archila, co-executive director.

“The Trump Administration continues to escalate its attacks on immigrant communities on all fronts. Today, Trump announced that even without a citizenship question on the census, his administration is charging forward with an executive order to track noncitizen data and manipulate the census. 

“This is another attempt by this Administration to erase the voices of immigrants in our democracy and instill fear in our communities.  Trump’s immigration policies continue to advance a radical white nationalist vision for the country that uses the tactic of constantly scapegoating immigrants in order to exclude us from our society, our democracy and our economy. 

“The President is attempting to scare our communities out of participating in the census.  The president believes that he can bully us into the shadows. We will not be afraid. We will work to make sure immigrant communities are protected, represented and treated with dignity.”

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Media Contact: Lia Weintraub, lweintraub@populardemocracy.org, 202.618.2482