The email newsletter “Weekly Update from Congressman Nick Langworthy” dated Sunday May 12, 2024 referenced a clip from a 2021 House Foreign Affairs Committee virtual meeting featuring Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) that was taken out of context in a viral retweet by Elon Musk in January 2024. While Musk is known for deliberately posting offensive or provocative content on X, formerly known as Twitter, it should be concerning to the 23rd District voters that Langworthy would resort to the same inaccurate, incomplete and misleading tactics to cast doubt on the integrity of the census and the redistricting process that often follows. Cherry-picking snippets of a broader discussion to fan the flames of the current migrant crisis in New York City and garner support for the Equal Representation Act (H.R. 7109) is reprehensible.
According to Congress.gov, the House Republican bill would require a citizenship question on the decennial census, reporting on certain census statistics, and would modify apportionment of Representatives to be based on US citizens instead of all individuals.
This is the same change that the Trump administration unsuccessfully tried to make on the 2020 census before former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit stating, “What the Trump Administration is requesting is not just alarming, it is an unconstitutional attempt to disrupt an accurate Census count.”
The Constitution, often the very underpinnings of far Right rhetoric, mandates an “actual Enumeration” or, more plainly, a census that must be taken every 10 years to count all people—both citizens and noncitizens—living in the United States. According to Census.gov, the data collected by the decennial census determine the number of seats each state has in the House of Representatives is used to distribute hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds to local communities, and serves as the basis for fair political representation.
So what is the issue here? How is the system that was designed to count and equally represent all Americans “corroding the essence of American citizenship,” as Langworthy insisted in his most recent newsletter? While many House Republicans have voiced fear that including undocumented citizens in apportionment dilutes the votes and political representation of Americans, FactCheck.org found that this population is “routinely undercounted for multiple reasons and therefore the effect is likely minimal on district appropriations.” Ariel Ruiz Soto, senior policy analyst for Migration Policy Institute (MPI) clarified, “Many of these immigrants are part of mixed-status households that include many US citizens who have critical needs and must be counted” for schooling and other services.
New York is not “rolling out the red carpet for illegal immigrants” as Langworthy would have taxpayers believe. FactCheck.org dispelled recent rumors that misrepresented immigrants’ eligibility for Social Security numbers and benefits. According to Julia Gelatt, associate director of the US Immigration Policy Program at MPI, “People who cross the border illegally who have not applied for asylum usually cannot get work authorization or an SSN.” Most foreign-born people coming to the US are coming on student, farmwork, or high-skilled work visas, though Gelatt clarified that it is legal to request asylum regardless of how one arrived in the country.
New York is not alone in the migration crisis, more than 100 million individuals were displaced globally in 2022 according to MPI Europe. Eurostat Database on Migration and Asylum reports that fifteen percent of the EU population are non-citizens or citizens who were born outside of the EU. To manage the increase in asylum-seekers, MPI Europe has been developing sponsorship programs and pathways with host-community volunteers that welcome, settle and integrate refugees.
MPI Europe and MPI Canada have shared their program models and have determined that refugees more frequently successfully transition to autonomy when assisted planning begins early in their refugee status. This includes setting realistic expectations, clear goals and firm boundaries with host-community volunteers. Feeding, clothing and housing these individuals must be part of the integration process. We cannot erase or count around undocumented people. It’s xenophobic and only makes it more difficult for ALL of us to move forward from this shared crisis. Compassion and stewardship shouldn’t be weaponized, to use Langworthy’s own words, by “turning it into a political commodity.”
Jackie Wilson
Allegany County Democratic Committee
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