NAACP NEW YORK STATE CONFERENCE CONDEMNS ATTEMPT TO EXCLUDE NONCITIZEN IMMIGRANTS AND ELIMINATE RACE AND ETHNICITY DATA FROM 2030 CENSUS

The NAACP New York State Conference condemns the administration's attempt to exclude noncitizen immigrants and eliminate critical data collection on race and ethnicity in the 2030 Census. This move is a direct assault on the constitutional mandate to count every U.S. resident and directly threatens the political representation, federal resources, and civil rights protections of Black New Yorkers.

In New York, where communities are made up of diverse immigrant populations from across the Caribbean, Africa, and Latin America, this proposal hits especially hard. Excluding them from the census count strips the state of its fair share of congressional seats and legislative power, effectively diluting our political voice.

Federal funding for essential programs such as Medicaid, public housing, school funding, infrastructure, and community development block grants, is also directly tied to census numbers. An intentional undercount will leave Black communities underfunded and under-resourced. Local governments will be forced to fill in the gaps.

If race and ethnicity questions are eliminated, it strips away the primary data tool used to enforce the Voting Rights Act, combat systemic discrimination, and track racial disparities in housing, healthcare, and economic opportunity. New York is home to the largest Black immigration population of any state in the U.S. and the consequences could be dire. We will continue to fight any and all attempts to roll back hard-won protections and erasure of Black and immigrant communities.