Our Time Is Now: Power: on Immigration
Brian Kemp:
2012: Challenged voter status of newly-sworn-in citizens
The Asian American Legal Advocacy Center (AALAC) had hit upon the ingenious idea of coordinating with naturalization services to help serve newly sworn in citizens. But during the 2012 election cycle, new voters registered by the AALAC had been turned
away from polling places, their right to vote challenged by election officials. The AALAC's founder reached out to the secretary of state's office to find out why so many of those she'd signed up hadn't made it onto voting rolls, even though early
voting had started in Georgia. Rather than address the issue of eligible voters not being added to the rolls by election day, Secretary Kemp opened an investigation into the AALAC and its work, creating a cloud of suspicion over the group.
The accusations included a failure to properly secure permission from the registrants for their information or other technical issues. Kemp investigated AALAC for two years, then closed the investigation without a single finding of wrongdoing.
Source: Our Time Is Now, by Stacey Abrams, p. 54-5
Jun 9, 2020
Donald Trump:
Citizenship question on census for many decades; use in 2020
In 2019, the Trump administration attempted to add a "citizenship question" to the census survey. The backlash was immediate, spurring accusations that Trump wanted to have an undercount of people of color, namely Latinos. Defenders of the citizenship
question argued that the accuracy of the census depended on knowing the legal stats of every American resident--documented or undocumented. They self-righteously asserted that the census has been asking the question for years.
In 1950, the census shifted to asking the question on the long-form version of the census, which only went out to a sampling of Americans [but prior to 1950, it was on the short-form]. No census had used the citizenship question on the ubiquitous
short-form in fifty years. Trump announced his intention of putting the controversial question on the 2020 census. Organizations and a number of states filed suit against the Trump administration.
Source: Our Time Is Now, by Stacey Abrams, p.170-1
Jun 9, 2020
Stacey Abrams:
States' refugee resettlement refusal is emulated globally
Nations watch what we do, and they emulate to our behavior, even now. America's authority to question Russian president Vladimir Putin's treatment of dissidents weakened when
President Trump refused to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for the murder of an American resident and journalist.
International calls to accept refugees from Yemen, Syria, and elsewhere go unanswered when the Trump administration offers individual states the right to refuse resettlement.
To the extent that they are emulating the behavior of America and the erosion of democracy is not a permanent good.
Source: Our Time Is Now, by Stacey Abrams, p.240-1
Jun 9, 2020
Xavier Becerra:
Sued government for adding "citizenship question" to census
In 2019, the Trump administration attempted to add a "citizenship question" to the census survey. The backlash was immediate, spurring accusations that Trump wanted to have an undercount of people of color, namely Latinos. Defenders of the citizenship
question self-righteously asserted that the census has been asking the question [until 1950]. Trump announced his intention of putting the controversial question on the 2020 census. Organizations and a number of states filed suit against the Trump
administration.California secretary of state Alex Padilla helped lead his state's lawsuit, along with state attorney general Xavier Becerra. They argued that the citizenship question was intended to artificially suppress the count, and the
consequences for California would be dire. Secretary Padilla laid out the potential effect: "Yes, it does determine federal funding. But more fundamentally, it drives the reapportionment process & California's voice in congress."
Source: Our Time Is Now, by Stacey Abrams, p.170-2
Jun 9, 2020
Page last updated: Oct 09, 2021