David Swanson Pens Wall Street Journal Opinion on Immigration, the 2020 Census, and Federal Funding
Posted: 7/17/2019 (CSDE Research)
CSDE Affiliate David Swanson, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at UC-Riverside, recently co-authored an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal in which he sheds light on the windfall of federal dollars that may be destined to localities where migrants are more likely to reside following new federal policies.
Data from the 2020 Census will direct billions of federal dollars to states and cities through more than 300 federal programs that allocate funding based on population count, including Medicaid, Medicare, Head Start, and federal nutrition assistance. Authors estimate that Portland, MA, which has welcomed hundreds of asylum-seekers from Central Africa, stands to receive $2,772 per migrant in federal funds annually.
Sanctuary cities will also reap a bonus, as will communities where Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities are located. They can thank the Census Bureau’s longstanding practice of counting people where they are found if they have no usual place of residence elsewhere.