NY MENA Coalition Statement on Proposed Changes to the 2030 Census
October 6, 2026
Contact: info@armenianactionnetwork.org
The MENA NY Coalition opposes the September 10, 2026 proposal of the U.S. Census Bureau to exclude millions of U.S. residents from the population count that determines congressional representation, and the removal of demographic questions about racial and ethnic identity on the 2030 Census.
Our federal government must comply with the Constitution by counting every person when conducting the survey that decides our representation and resourcing. The U.S. Constitution states that congressional representatives must be distributed among the states by counting the whole number of persons in each state. Excluding refugees, asylum seekers, people with Temporary Protected Status, students, workers on visas, and others who live and work in the United States would erase millions of people and deprive our communities of representation and resources.
Refugees and asylum seekers fleeing conflict and persecution have long contributed to MENA communities across the country, including those in New York. Many of our community members hold temporary protected status, pending asylum claims, or other non-permanent legal statuses. Under this proposal, they could be erased entirely from the count that determines how many representatives our communities have in the Congressional House.
Furthermore, if the census does not count all residents, our communities will lose resources to support our schools, hospitals, transportation infrastructure, emergency services, and more.
Removing race and ethnicity questions altogether would erase the upcoming opportunity to correctly count the MENA population on the census for the first time. The census has collected race and ethnicity in some form since 1790. In the past, federal standards have made our Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) American communities invisible in the data, counting us as White for decades. But in 2024, after years of advocacy and research by the Census Bureau itself, federal standards finally added a "Middle Eastern or North African" category. If 2024 standards are kept, we have an upcoming opportunity to correctly count the MENA population on the census for the first time.
Race and ethnicity data are vital to protecting public health, education, and safety. This data enables us to classify and address differences in health risk factors, identify discrimination and enforce civil rights laws, and assists local governments to distribute resources effectively and efficiently.
For these reasons, we strongly oppose the changes proposed in this rule. We call on the Census Bureau and Department of Commerce to count all people residing in the United States in the 2030 Census, without regard to immigration status; and to collect race and ethnicity data according to the 2024 OMB SPD 15 standards.
The NY MENA Coalition calls on public officials and policymakers to publicly reject this proposal, enable meaningful participation in feedback activities concerning this proposal for MENA communities through outreach efforts, and to invest in community-led research and data collection of MENA communities driven by community-based organizations.
We also encourage individuals to submit comments to the Census Bureau directly before submissions close at 11:59 PM on November 2, 2026.
Signed Organizations:
Arab American Association of New York
Arab-American Family Support Center
Armenian-American Advancement Network
Malikah Safety Center
Muslim Community Network
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