Below, please find the public comment letter we will be submitting regarding the proposed Census changes. The deadline is fast approaching, only 5 days remain. If you would like to join us in opposing these changes, click here to sign on to our letter.
Re: Opposition to Proposed Revisions Removing Race and Ethnicity Categories and Adding Citizenship Measures to the Decennial Census
1. Introduction & Statement of Opposition
The AfroLatin@ Forum and the Afro-Latino Coalition, along with the below signatories, write to express our strong and unequivocal opposition to proposed administrative changes to the national decennial Census. These proposals, which reportedly seek to remove essential race and ethnicity categories and impose citizenship-related inquiries, undermine the foundational mandate of the enumeration.
Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution requires a complete count of all persons residing in the United States, regardless of legal status or citizenship. Excluding or deterring non-citizens, including immigrants without permanent legal residency, violates this constitutional requirement. Furthermore, attempting to exclude or diminish the presence of non-citizen populations echoes painful eras in our nation’s history when certain human beings were deliberately not counted fully or equally under racist doctrines. We firmly reject any proposal that seeks to regress to a system where certain residents are treated as invisible.
2. Undercounting Afro-Latino Communities and the Impact of SPD 15
Our coalition has long-raised concerns regarding how demographic questions are structured, including changes under Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 (SPD 15). Combining or simplifying race and ethnicity questions without proper nuance creates widespread confusion among multi-identity populations.
Afro-Latinos represent a uniquely vulnerable demographic in data collection. While official Census estimates have previously placed the Afro-Latino population at roughly 1 million, independent sociological and demographic research estimates the actual population to be upwards of 6 million or more. Removing race and ethnicity measures altogether, compounded by citizenship inquiries, will multiply fear and confusion, weaken community trust, and guarantee an unprecedented undercount of Afro-Latino people.
3. Financial Contributions and Legal Mandate
Determination of "legality" or legal status is not, and has never been, a prerequisite for being counted in the decennial Census. Immigrants without green cards and non-citizen residents live in our communities, contribute labor, pay state, local, and federal taxes, and fuel local economies.
Census data directly governs congressional apportionment, civil rights protections, and the equitable distribution of federal funding. Depriving communities of the ability to accurately reflect all their residents:
Punishes Local Communities: Cities and neighborhoods with high immigrant populations will be systematically deprived of federal resources that their residents' economic and tax contributions help generate.
Distorts Political Representation: Suppressing participation through citizenship questions or racial erasure artificially diminishes political representation for minority and immigrant-heavy districts.
Obstructs Civil Rights Enforcement: Federal agencies rely on objective demographic data to enforce civil rights, ensure fair housing, and monitor compliance with anti-discrimination laws.
4. Call to Action: Reject "Race-Blind" Policies and Exclusions
We strongly urge the Census Bureau and the OMB to reject "race-blind" theories and citizenship-based exclusions. Ignoring race or chilling participation among non-citizens does not foster unity, it obscures systemic inequality and deprives local jurisdictions of vital resources.
Instead of creating barriers that decrease participation, administrative policies must make the Census simpler, more inclusive, and safer for all residents to complete. We urge the Census Bureau to:
Maintain robust, distinct, and clear measures for both race and ethnicity.
Uphold the constitutional mandate to count every resident, regardless of citizenship or legal status.
Consult directly with sociologists, demographers, and community advocates who specialize in Afro-Latino and immigrant research to ensure survey instruments accurately reflect lived realities.
If the United States is truly committed to equal justice and equitable treatment under the law, it must count every person who makes up our nation and rely on accurate statistics to improve our society.
Signatories
Amiyra Alveranga
Judith Anderson, BMCC
Veree Brown
Tatiana Bryant
Leah Burns
Ife Changa
Gabrielle Civil, Professor, California Institute of the Arts
Kay Coates
Larisa Correa, Founder and Owner, Mpower Counseling, PLLC
Dr. Aisha Cort Hamilton, Bucknell University
Cecelie Counts
Sharon Cruz, Executive Director, Afro-Latino Education and Arts Collective
Christina Davidson, Professor, USC
Tanya Davis-Castro
Omar Eaton-Martinez
Zulekha Foulen
Dr. Mariluz Franco
Sita Frederick
William Garcia-Medina, Professor, UC-Blue Ash
Rev. Dr. Cheryl Green
Nathaniel Harvey
Dr. Marcus Johnson, Ujima People's Progress Party
Keisha Katz
Michael Lopez
Diana Lugo-Martinez
Nancy López, PhD Sociology
Yalidy Matos, Associate Professor
Manuel Mendez, President, DC AfroLatino Caucus
Zenaida Mendez, President, National Dominican Women's Caucus
Eliana Mercedes
Marisol Negron, Associate Professor of American Studies and Latino Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston
Francis Pena
Maria Ponciano, Teacher, NYCPS
Suzanne Ricco-Lightfoot
Bonnie Richardson
Vitalina Robinson
Obrian Rosario, J.D.
Liz Schnee
Nick Shaw
Daniel Shaw-Vicente
Maya Simpkins
John Thomas III, Editor, The Christian Recorder
Melissa Valle, Associate Professor of Global Racial Justice, Rutgers University-Newark
Mari Vicente
Brandi Waters
