skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

New Census Question Will Test Trust of Immigrants

play audio
Play

Monday, April 2, 2018   

ALBUQUERQUE, N. M. – One expert in New Mexico doesn't think including a question about citizenship on the 2020 U.S. Census will affect the results nearly as much as critics claim.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights has called inclusion of the citizenship question "untimely, unnecessary and untested." But Lonna Rae Atkeson, director of the Center for the Study of Voting, Elections, and Democracy at the University of New Mexico, says people who are skeptical of the government's motives may already be unresponsive to inquiries about their households.

"There could be a small decline, and I think it's likely there would be a very small decline,” says Atkeson. “But those people who are already afraid to talk to the government? They're not going to respond anyway, whether that question is on there or not. If you have that distrust, you're not going to participate."

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says the question is necessary to provide accurate citizenship data to the Justice Department.

The census has about a 70 percent response rate, and most immigrants live in states that did not support President Donald Trump. Some Democrats warn that an inaccurate census count could unfairly affect the reapportionment process that determines who controls the House of Representatives in the decade that follows the census.

Atkeson notes the census has always been a tool for the controlling political party.

"We can look back and see this politicization of the census, whoever is the out-party. And I mean some of it is real alarm, but some of it is also this politicization," she says.

The question about U.S. citizenship hasn't been included on the census since 1950.

Atkeson says even if people choose not to participate, the Census Bureau sends out workers to follow up.

"They physically send people out to those households, they knock on their doors and they ask them those questions,” she says. “And if those people still won't answer those questions, then they actually go to their neighbor and they ask those questions."

New Mexico is one of twelve states that has signaled its intention to sue the Trump administration over including a citizenship question.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021