There’s been a lot of troubling confusion over the upcoming 2020 census, thanks in large part to Donald Trump’s repeated insistence on including a racist and illegal question on citizenship. That question’s been nixed, blessedly, but there’s still concern among some communities that Census data will end up in the hands of, say, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
ABC News reports, however, that the Census Bureau would like to make it clear that they will NOT share census data with law enforcement, either on a federal on local level. That goes for both the official 2020 census and any supplementary surveys, including the annual American Community Survey (ACS)—a survey the Census Bureau says will “measure the changing social and economic characteristics of the U.S. population”—that does include questions about citizenship.
Next year’s census is reportedly on track, despite Trump’s threats to delay it, and will be conducted by phone, online and mail.
“Even though we are using technical options that we didn’t have before, the commitment to confidentiality, the commitment to protect people’s information hasn’t changed,” Fernando Armstrong, Philadelphia regional director for the census, told ABC News.
Not that I’m trying to fear-monger, but I don’t entirely trust this government to keep everyone’s information safe, all things considered. On the other hand, the Census Bureau needs an accurate population count to appropriately fund programs and provide communities with certain resources, hence the agency’s push to make sure people fill out the census in the first place. America 2020: a fun time for all, and for all, a fun time.