WASHINGTON: US President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday said the Census Bureau must ensure that every American is counted accurately in the ongoing nationwide population counts.
Biden said that he hoped the US Supreme Court rejects a plan by President Donald Trump's administration to exclude from the census the immigrants living illegally in the country.
The apex court heard a case on Tuesday regarding the plan of the Trump administration to exclude illegal immigrants from once-in-a-decade census.
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States heard a case about whether everyone in America will be counted in the census for the purpose of apportionment of Congressional seats, as the Constitution plainly and clearly requires, Biden said.
"Or whether the partisan politics of intimidation and xenophobia will intentionally exclude specific groups of people from being counted.
It's a case about whether we deny our ability to govern responsibly and undermine our fidelity to our laws and values as a government of, by, and for all people," he said in a statement.
"In America, we make ourselves heard when we fill out the Census to be counted. It's a critical way the power of the nation resides in the people. That's America. We can't keep rewriting history, scrambling norms, and ignoring the Constitution and the precedents we abide by," Biden said.
"It is my hope the Supreme Court does the right thing. And, Congress must give the experts at the Census the time to make sure everyone gets counted accurately.
Let everyone be counted and let us begin the work to heal and unite our nation," Biden said.
Noting that the census will determine the future of the country for the next decade, Biden said it helps decide where and how to invest in the health and safety of the nation everything from whether children can attend a good school and eat a warm lunch, families can drink clean water and breath clean air, and people have access to basic health care and good jobs.