Trump Attacks the Census and the Undocumented

LULAC Condemns
Trump Executive Order

Nation’s Leading Latino Civil Rights Organization Calls Excluding Undocumented Immigrants from Census A Denial of Basic Rights

Washington, DC - The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) today announced it is taking action against President Trump’s Executive Order issued to block undocumented immigrants from taking part in the U.S. Census referred to as the basis for “Apportionment”.

In signing the order, President Trump said, “I have accordingly determined that respect for the law and protection of the integrity of the democratic process warrant the exclusion of illegal aliens from the apportionment base, to the extent feasible and to the maximum extent of the President's discretion under the law.”

Domingo Garcia, LULAC National President fired back, “The Executive Order signed by President Trump today is illegal on its face, unconstitutional and plain dumb. LULAC condemns and we are taking steps to keep it from being implemented. It is un-American to deny millions of people living in the United States access to healthcare, education and even representation since the census is how the number of congressional delegates are determined.”

In attempting to justify Trump’s action, the Administration states, “Increasing congressional representation based on the presence of aliens who are not in a lawful immigration status would also create perverse incentives encouraging violations of Federal law. States adopting policies that encourage illegal aliens to enter this country and that hobble Federal efforts to enforce the immigration laws passed by the Congress should not be rewarded with greater representation in the House of Representatives."

“This is clearly a desperate attempt engineered by Stephen Miller to create a massive undercount. President Trump's true motive is to silence our voice, our representation, and our power. We will not fall prey to White Supremacy led strategies whose only objective is to suppress immigrants and communities of color. This is a ploy to shift attention from the failure of this administration to protect all Americans from Covid19,” added Sindy M. Benavides, LULAC’s National Chief Executive Officer.

“What President Trump conveniently leaves out is that the hardworking essential workers he’s targeting are also taxpayers with $1.5 trillion in buying power benefiting the U.S. economy every year!” says Garcia. “Bottom line, this Executive Order is playing politics with people’s lives and LULAC will not allow it,” he added.