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Advance Notification Letter Available in Multiple Languages
The Census Bureau will send its advance notification letter in multiple languages. The advance letters will announce the start of the census and the imminent arrival of census forms at each home. The revised letter will direct recipients, in Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Russian, as well as English, to the 2010 Census web site for assistance in filling out the questionnaire.
Targeted Follow-Up Mailing
The Census Bureau is adding a targeted follow-up mailing, to reach households in census tracts where at least ten percent of households speak primarily Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, or Russian. The new postcard, which will be mailed within days of the census forms, will feature messages in all six questionnaire languages, telling recipients to call a toll-free number for assistance.
The Vitter Amendment
On October 7, Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) and Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT) introduced an amendment to the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations bill that would require the Census to ask about a person's immigration status and exclude undocumented immigrants from the count. The Vitter amendment presents a constitutional challenge which undermines the 14th Amendment, which states that all persons will be counted in the census for apportionment purposes.
Passage of this amendment would discourage significant numbers of immigrant and minority communities from participation. Administratively, there are concerns that these proposed changes will delay and disrupt the work already done in preparation of the April 1 launch of Census 2010. According to the Census Bureau and Commerce Department in a public statement on October 13, 425 million of the 600 million census forms have already been printed, and that even adding an addenda sheet with the Vitter question would require rewriting software code, reprogramming scanners and retraining census workers. In total, it is estimated at least $7 billion will be wasted. Call your Senators today to urge their opposition to the Vitter Amendment.
Source: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2009/10/eye_opener_citizenship_and_the.html?hpid=news-col-blog
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