Bend the Arc: Trump's Anti-immigration Census Order 'Straight From the White Supremacist Playbook'

Bend the Arc: Jewish Action released the following statement on Tuesday in response to the Trump administration's new executive order attempting to ban non-citizens from being counted in the 2020 census:

"President Trump's order attempting to erase non-citizens from the census is yet another page straight from the GOP's anti-immigrant playbook, and another step in the white nationalist fantasy of building a country that's only for themselves and people who look like them," said Rabbi Jason Kimelman-Block, Washington Director of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action. "The census is about showing a full picture of our country, not the distorted version of it which Trump and his Republican enablers are trying to manufacture. The Constitution is clear that everyone who lives in the United States should be counted in the census, and that is how it has been consistently interpreted."

"These shameful attempts to chip away at such fundamental institutions of our democracy are part of a clear campaign among some to cling to power, and our country must do better. From assaults on voting rights at every level, to preventing immigrants from accessing essential COVID relief, to now trying to erase even the existence of non-citizens in the census -- these are all attempts to enact the ultimate white nationalist goal of marginalizing and scapegoating people of color, immigrants, Muslims, Jews, and anyone who doesn't fit into Trump's dystopian vision for society."

"The courts must act swiftly to prevent Trump's attempted erasure of immigrants from affecting this year's census."

Bend the Arc: Jewish Action is a leader in the American Jewish community in fighting for justice for immigrants and demanding that Congress take action to protect immigrants. Bend the Arc: Jewish Action supported the creation of the DACA and DAPA programs after mobilizing the Jewish community in support of immigration legislation in 2013. In 2018, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action organized a historic act of civil disobedience in Washington, DC in which 82 Jewish activists were arrested on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol while demanding a clean Dream Act.

Since 2018, activists from Bend the Arc: Jewish Action have organized dozens of local "Let My People Stay" actions and protests across the country inspired by this civil disobedience, and joined more than 18,000 Jews and allies rising up against the Trump Administration's family separation policies. In partnership with the Defund Hate Campaign, we continue to fight for Congress to cut the funding of Trump's detention and deportation machine, which makes all immigrant communities unsafe.