The announcement came on Thursday morning, several days after the U.S. Census Bureau released a study estimating that close to 9 million people would choose not to participate in the census if the citizenship question was included. Here is Kyle Lim, a resident of Grand Rapids, who says he would choose not to participate out of fear.
“I am really politically active and feel like being added to a federal list where my status is quote and quote counted could turn into a way to target me because of my political orientations and actions.”
Lim is a green-card holder and first came to the United States ten years ago under a student visa.
“I am extremely privileged to live in the U.S. with a legal status, so I don’t have to live with the same kind of fear that people who are undocumented have.”
In a statement from the City of Grand Rapids City Manager, Mark Washington says the city is “going to do everything we can to ensure maximum participation in the census.”
In Grand Rapids, the largest undercounts of the previous census occurred in neighborhoods where Spanish is a primary language.
For WGVU News, Michelle Jokisch Polo
