Norman Rockwell Museum partners with the Berkshire Immigrant Center, the Berkshire Community College Adult Learning Program, and the Literacy Network of South Berkshire to host their annual United States Citizenship Naturalization Ceremony on Friday, June 14, 2019.
Now in its eighth year at the Museum, the ceremony celebrates residents of Western Massachusetts who have immigrated to the United States from around the world.
The special event will give members of the community the opportunity to welcome 20 fellow residents from 15 different countries as they are sworn-in as new naturalized citizens of our country. This year, due to increased interest and need, the Museum and the Berkshire Immigrant Center will host a second ceremony on September 20 to welcome the next group of new U.S. citizens.
This past week, people closely followed the news about the 2020 Census. They wanted to know if the 2020 Census would include a Citizenship Question. The answer to this question seemed to change every hour.
President Trump wanted to have a Citizenship Question on the 2020 Census. He said that the Citizenship Question would protect voting rights.
The federal courts disagreed that the Citizenship Question would protect voting rights. The courts reviewed what the Constitution said about the Census, state representation, and voting rights. Article 1 Section 2 of the Constitution says that Congress must count all people living in the United States every 10 years. The number of a state's representatives is based on the number of people--not citizens--who live in the state. If some people are not counted, states would lose members in the House of Representatives, plus government money for public services.
Also, many people oppose the Citizenship Question on the 2020 Census. They think that every person must be counted in the 2020 Census. They contacted their Senators and Representatives by phone, email, or Twitter. Some people said that they would not answer the Citizenship Question because they are not legal residents or live with people who are undocumented. There are afraid of being deported.
On Thursday, July 11, 2019, President Trump that the 2020 Census will not have the Citizenship Question BUT he issued an executive order for federal agencies to collect and share people's citizenship information. Trump said that the Citizenship information will show us how immigration changes America. The citizenship information will help us make stronger immigration laws and give public services. Trump's executive order wants states to draw voting districts based on number of eligible voters (citizens) instead of total number of people (citizens, legal residents, and undocumented), which many people say will give more power to Republicans & Non-Hispanic Whites voters and may take away the voting power of Democrats, Hispanic, African-American, and other minority voters.
While people are still taking about what Trump's executive order, communities are preparing for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids this weekend. All undocumented immigrants can be arrested and deported, not just immigrants who have committed crimes. Sometimes, U.S. citizens are arrested during ICE raids.
Remember, NEVER LIE ABOUT YOUR IMMIGRATION STATUS!
All people--citizens and non-citizens--have rights under the US Constitution.
DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR if an immigration agent is knocking on the door.
DO NOT ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS from an immigration agent if they try to talk to you. You have the right to remain silent.
DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING without first speaking to a lawyer. You have the right to speak with a lawyer.
If you are outside of your home, ask the agent if you are free to leave and if they say yes, leave calmly.
Listen to this podcast to find the answer to the following five questions:
1. Why do some states have more Representatives than other states? 2. What does the judicial branch do? 3. There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them. 4. What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy? 5. What are the two major political parties in the United States?* 6. What are two rights of everyone living in the United States?
No Citizenship Question on the 2020 Census BUT.... President Donald Trump announces future action ordering data on citizenship to be collected by means other than the census.
U.S. President Donald Trump says he is issuing an executive order for the Commerce Department to obtain citizenship data. But he is abandoning trying to add a controversial question on citizenship in the country's once-a-decade census next year. (read more)
MORE NEWS
source: Hansi Lo Wong
President Trump and AG William Barr say that "as a practical matter" the question cannot be added to #2020Census.
President Trump's new executive order directs the Commerce Secretary to "consider initiating any administrative process necessary" to add a #CitizenshipQuestion to forms for the 2030 census👇
The 1st reason for citizenship information Trump's executive order cites is "to help us understand the effects of immigration on our country & to inform policymakers considering basic decisions about immigration policy"
The 2nd reason for citizenship information Trump's executive order cites is to be able to "evaluate the potential effects of proposals to alter the eligibility rules for public benefits" in a way that ensures immigrants don't receive public benefits they're not eligible for👇
The 3rd reason for citizenship information Trump's executive order cites is to create a "more reliable" count of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S.
The 4th reason for citizenship info Trump's EO cites is to allow states to draw voting districts based on number of eligible voters instead of total number of residents, which GOP strategist Thomas Hofeller concluded would be "advantageous to Republicans & Non-Hispanic Whites"
U.S. President Donald Trump is making a last-ditch push to add a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. Census, despite a Supreme Court ruling against it last month and criticism by some states and civil liberties groups that the question is meant to deter immigrants from participating and help Republicans gain seats in the U.S. Congress. (read more)
Mother Jones journalist Ari Berman says recent Supreme Court decisions on redistricting and the 2020 census citizenship question will help determine which party is in power in the next decade.
"Since the 2010 elections, 24 states have implemented new restrictions on voting. Alabama now requires a photo ID to cast a ballot. Other states such as Ohio and Georgia have enacted "use it or lose it" laws, which strike voters from registration rolls if they have not participated in an election within a prescribed period of time. Mother Jones journalist Ari Berman, author of Give Us the Ballot, says that many of the restrictions are part of a broader Republican strategy to tighten access to the ballot — an effort that was bolstered in 2013 by the Supreme Court's Shelby County v. Holder ruling. "[That] decision," Berman explains, "said that those states with the longest histories of discrimination no longer had to approve their voting changes with the federal government."
Held in the Rotunda of the National Archives and Records Administration
Special guests: Vice President Mike Pence,
Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao
and acting Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Ken Cuccinelli
