美国国家公共电台 NPR Latinx Advocacy Groups Sue To Block Citizenship Data Release By Trump Officials

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Today the Trump¹ administration is facing a new lawsuit² over its efforts to compile citizenship³ information. This legal challenge comes after federal courts blocked a question about citizenship from being added to the 2020 census⁴. NPR's Hansi Lo Wang has more.

HANSI LO WANG, BYLINE⁵: Back in July, after more than a week of confusion over whether the Trump administration would keep fighting in the courts for a citizenship question, President Trump backed down and announced an executive order.

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I am hereby ordering every department and agency in the federal government to provide the Department of Commerce with all requested records regarding the number of citizens and noncitizens in our country.

THOMAS SAENZ: It is clearly used as a substitute for the citizenship question and has many of the same legal flaws that prevented the citizenship question from being added to census 2020.

WANG: Thomas Saenz is the president of the Mexican American Legal Defense⁶ and Educational Fund, which is helping⁷ to represent Latinx community groups in a federal lawsuit filed in Maryland. They're trying to block the Census Bureau from gathering⁸ government records to produce data about whether every person living in the country is a U.S. citizen, all at the direction of the Commerce Department and the executive order Trump officials rushed to release in July.

SAENZ: There was no process because it was effectively simply a public relations, if you will, face-saving motivation for the release on that day.

WANG: The citizenship data the Census Bureau's trying to put together right now could have major implications on the balance of political power over the next decade. When it comes to redrawing political maps in 2021, state and local governments could use this data when they begin reforming voting districts.

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TRUMP: Some states may want to draw state and local legislative⁹ districts based upon the voter-eligible population.

WANG: This week, however, the Census Bureau announced that not a single state redistricting official has asked the bureau for that data, and it isn't clear whether that way of redistricting is legal or not.

A major GOP strategist who died last year, Thomas Hofeller, concluded that way of redistricting would politically benefit Republicans and non-Hispanic white people. Thomas Saenz says Hofeller's ideas helped drive the Trump administration's push for citizenship data.

SAENZ: The true rationale is to intimidate¹⁰ and prevent the Latino and Asian American communities from receiving their fair representation in the redistricting process in 2021 and beyond.

WANG: A spokesperson for the Justice Department, which represents the administration, declined to comment.

Hansi Lo Wang, NPR News, New York.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

3 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

4 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

9 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

10 intimidate   

vt.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• You think you can intimidate people into doing what you want?你以为你可以威胁别人做任何事？
• The first strike capacity is intended mainly to intimidate adversary.第一次攻击的武力主要是用来吓阻敌方的。