Press Releases

Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (D-MA-03) urged the US Census Bureau to include Khmer, Hmong, and Lao among the languages supported by the Internet Self-Response (ISR) and Census Questionnaire Assistance (CQA) options for the 2020 Census.

 

In a letter led by Congresswoman Trahan and signed by 38 of her colleagues that was sent to Steven Dillingham, Director of the US Census Bureau, the challenges faced by these communities and the importance of their being properly represented in the upcoming census were laid out.

 

“Among the largest refugee populations to resettle in America in the past 50 years, these communities face unique barriers to being counted, such as poverty and limited English proficiency. A significant number of Cambodians, Hmong, and Laotian Americans and immigrants live in the United States. Offering these additional language support tools is a necessary step to ensure an accurate count of some of these hard to reach populations, which will bear upon the availability of vital public resources for local communities in the coming years,” the Members wrote.

 

“These additions may require immediate planning revisions, but the significance of this matter merits such changes without unnecessary delay. Indeed, it is our belief that these populations should receive the breadth of support tools that will be available to speakers of any other language in the United States,” the Members continued.   

 

“We commend Rep. Trahan for her leadership and commitment to making sure the voices of our Southeast Asian American communities are heard during next year’s critical census. Our families deserve their fair share of government resources and political representation, and it is our country’s duty to ensure an accurate count of all Americans, including immigrant and refugee communities," said Quyen Dinh, Executive Director of Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC).   

 

"Asian Americans are such a diverse group of people therefore, it is imperative to have as much accurate data as possible. Working with the Cambodian community, we have been under-counted for a long time and with your support, this is an opportunity for us, the Burmese and Laotian community to be heard and counted," said Sovanna Pouv, Execitive Director, Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association of Lowell (CMAA)

 

The other cosigners of this letter were Representatives Gwen Moore, Gilbert R. Cisneros, Jr., TJ Cox , Ayanna Pressley, Harley Rouda, Jimmy Gomez, Ro Khanna, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Yvette D. Clarke, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Jamie Raskin, Alan Lowenthal, Ilhan Omar, Mark Pocan, Betty McCollum, Anna G. Eshoo, Suzan DelBene, Katherine Clark, Scott H. Peters, Earl Blumenauer, Bill Pascrell, Jr., Donald S. Beyer Jr., James P. McGovern, Jan Schakowsky, Judy Chu, Raul M. Grijalva, Dean Phillips, Juan Vargas, Barbara Lee, Dina Titus, Jesús G. “Chuy” García, Zoe Lofgren, Grace Meng, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Rep. Jim Costa, Pramila Jayapal, Ted W. Lieu, and Ron Kind.

 

Full text of the letter can be found below, and a signed version of the letter can be found HERE:

 

May 9, 2019

 

 

The Honorable Steven Dillingham

Director

U.S. Census Bureau

4600 Silver Hill Road
Washington, DC 20233

 

 

Dear Dr. Dillingham:

 

We are writing to respectfully urge you to include Khmer, Hmong, and Lao among the languages supported by the Internet Self-Response (ISR) and Census Questionnaire Assistance (CQA) options for the 2020 Census. Among the largest refugee populations to resettle in America in the past 50 years, these communities face unique barriers to being counted, such as poverty and limited English proficiency. A significant number of Cambodians, Hmong, and Laotian Americans and immigrants live in the United States.  Offering these additional language support tools is a necessary step to ensure an accurate count of some of these hard to reach populations, which will bear upon the availability of vital public resources for local communities in the coming years.

 

According to the 2017 American Community Survey (Table S0201), Cambodian, Hmong, and Laotian communities number nearly 780,000 in the United States.  By comparison, the average Congressional District has a population of 710,000.  The same ACS dataset indicates that 39.5 percent of Cambodian households, 32.9 percent of Hmong households, and 37.6 percent of Laotian households speak English less than “very well.” In addition, more than 14 percent of these communities live in poverty. It is crucial that all reasonable measures be taken to reduce language barriers that might otherwise prevent an accurate count from being performed.

 

           As you know, ISR provides respondents the opportunity to answer the Census questionnaire through the internet, and the CQA includes an option for information to be collected over the telephone. It is our understanding that the 2020 Census will offer ISR and CQA in twelve non-English languages: Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Russian, Arabic, Tagalog, Polish, French, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, and Japanese.  While this is a commendable expansion from the 2010 Census, during which just five non-English languages were supported, we strongly believe that Khmer, Hmong, and Lao must be included as well.

 

These additions may require immediate planning revisions, but the significance of this matter merits such changes without unnecessary delay.  Indeed, it is our belief that these populations should receive the breadth of support tools that will be available to speakers of any other language in the United States.  

 

We would be pleased to work with you on this urgent matter and respectfully request a formal reply at your earliest convenience.

 

Sincerely,

 

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