From raids to the Census: undocumented immigrants in Trump’s sights

Access HERE

Washington, DC – Below is a column by Maribel Hastings from America’s Voice en Español translated to English from Spanish. It ran in several Spanish-language media outlets earlier this week:

Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant crusade is not limited to raids and deportations. His obsession with this sector of the population is such that he wants to erase them from the map by proposing, once again, that they not be counted in the next Census in 2030.

The common denominator of the Trump administration’s extremist proposals and public policies is always immigrants, the scapegoats for all evils: the fentanyl crisis, “electoral fraud,” and, above all, crime.

It is a constant war that, while directed at undocumented immigrants, affects all communities of color.

For example, if anything reveals the discriminatory, even racist, nature of Trump and the Texas government’s plan to move up the Census by five years to gerrymander electoral districts to suit their interests, it is the fact that it deprives Latino and African American voters of political power. It is a frontal attack on civil rights.

Redistricting continues to become more complicated as Democratic governors are applying the “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” approach. If Republicans manipulate electoral maps to take seats away from Democrats and guarantee their majority in the House of Representatives, Democrats will present their versions.

Immersed in this process is Trump’s war on undocumented immigrants and communities of color, which is fueled by the “great replacement” conspiracy theory that white supremacists use to claim that non-citizens vote fraudulently in elections. But a 1996 federal law already expressly prohibits them from voting in federal elections. Those who do face severe penalties, including fines, imprisonment (or both), inadmissibility, and even deportation.

For Trump, this is not enough. He now even says he will sign an executive order to eliminate mail-in voting because it lends itself to “fraud” and he wants to “help bring HONESTY to the midterm elections” in 2026.

This is coming from the man who tried to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s legitimate victory in the 2020 election through fraud, lies, and an assault on the Capitol.

And since Trump is seeking to complete what he left unfinished when he lost the 2020 election, he is once again targeting undocumented immigrants so that they will not be counted in the 2030 Census.

Trump already tried this when he insisted that the 2020 Census include a citizenship question, knowing that this would prevent undocumented individuals and even their resident or citizen family members from participating in the decennial count, resulting in an undercount in jurisdictions with high concentrations of minorities, especially Hispanics. Thus, when drawing district lines and determining the number of seats, non-Hispanic whites would benefit the most, and, in addition, Republicans would benefit more than Democrats.

The census results determine how billions of dollars in federal funds are distributed to states and localities for a myriad of issues and projects, from schools and Medicaid to public services and infrastructure.

It also determines how many seats each state has in the House of Representatives.

In other words, the count must be as accurate as possible so that jurisdictions receive the federal funds they are entitled to and obtain seats in the House of Representatives based on how many people are residents, whether or not they are US citizens. The Constitution requires that all persons be counted, regardless of their immigration status.

The Supreme Court blocked the inclusion of the citizenship question on the 2020 Census by sending the case back to lower courts. The question is what will happen this time if Trump tries again.

And although the Constitution places the responsibility for overseeing the decennial count with Congress, not the president, Trump manipulates Congress at will.

What is clear is that from raids to the Census, undocumented immigrants remain in Trump’s sights.

The original Spanish version is here.