Washington, DC — The Trump Administration has proposed sweeping changes to the 2030 Census that would prohibit the collection of race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation data.

The proposal would also deny political representation to millions of people by counting only US citizens and green card holders in the decennial population count, which decides how many representatives each state gets in Congress. People with other immigration statuses, such as former lawful permanent residents, work and student visa holders, and asylees, would be excluded. 

Why the census matters:

The census is the nation’s most comprehensive source of data on Southeast Asian American (SEAA) communities. Because SEAAs are often overlooked or grouped into the broader Asian category, detailed data are essential to making our communities visible and identifying where to allocate resources and services.

Removing accurate data will obscure disparities in health and socioeconomic outcomes, resulting in policies that fail to address the unique needs of SEAA communities. Community-based organizations are lifelines to our families and neighbors, and they will also have less access to the funding to provide vital services.

If millions of residents are left out of the count, states with large immigrant populations could lose seats in Congress. It would decrease political representation and power for our communities and leave many of us invisible when federal laws and funding decisions are made.

Take Action:
Submit a public comment by Oct. 13 

1.) Sign onto our letter to the Census Bureau by Tuesday, Oct. 13.

2.) Write your own comment using a premade template adapted from the DataIndex, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and others. You can view other templates here.

3.) Post our graphics to your social media.