Rhode Island to sue Trump over census memo

Constitution requires ALL people to be counted

By Steve Ahlquist for UpRiseRI

In response to United States President Donald Trump‘s memorandum that seeks to exclude undocumented immigrants from being counted in in the apportionment of congressional districts, the State of Rhode Island and the cities of Providence and Central Falls will be suing the administration, according to Central Falls Mayor James Diossa, during a July 22 press conference.

“Our City Solicitor, Matt Jerzyk, just informed me that we should expect a lawsuit to come from the State of Rhode Island, Providence and Central Falls, shortly,” said Diossa.

The press conference was called by community leaders and elected officials to underscore the critical importance of counting all Rhode Islanders in the 2020 census.

“The signing of this memorandum three weeks to the day before the Census Bureau is set to start doorknocking will make undocumented immigrants in our hardest-to-count communities less likely to answer the door to be counted,” said Mayor Diossa, co-chair of the Rhode Island Complete Count Committee. 

“Rhode Islanders need to know that the data they provide to the United States Census Bureau is protected by federal law and cannot be shared with law enforcement or immigration officials.”

“We are here to remind everyone that the Constitution is very clear,” said Providence City Council President Sabina Matos (Ward 15). “And it says that the census must count everyone living in the United States, every immigrant, every child. every neighbor.”

Trump, said Channavy Chay, Director of the Center for Southeast Asians, “is turning our community upside down, creating more fears with this census… We’re going to make sure that our community counts.

If the 29,000 undocumented immigrants in Rhode Island are not counted by the census, said Marcela Betancur, Director of the Latino Policy Institute “that will deeply harm our state. Not only financially, but also through other types of resources through the next decade.”

Steve Ahlquist is a frontline reporter in Rhode Island. He has covered human rights, social justice, progressive politics and environmental news for nearly a decade. atomicsteve@gmail.com

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