New York, November 9, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
UNITED SIKHS has urged the US Census Bureau to withdraw or substantially revise proposed regulations that could exclude certain non-citizens from congressional apportionment calculations and remove race and ethnicity questions from decennial census questionnaires.
In its public comment to the Bureau, the Sikh advocacy organisation called for an inclusive census that accurately counts residents and preserves the ability of Sikh Americans to identify themselves distinctly in official demographic statistics.
“The census should measure the population that exists, not a narrower population selected through an administrative judgment about belonging,” the organisation said in its submission.
The proposed apportionment changes would affect non-citizens who are not lawful permanent residents, including people holding other lawful immigration statuses. UNITED SIKHS argued that immigration classifications should not override the principle of counting people according to where they actually live.
The organisation also cited the Fourteenth Amendment’s requirement to count the “whole number of persons in each State”, urging the Census Bureau to carefully assess the legal and practical implications of the proposed exclusions.
A key concern raised in the submission is the future identification of Sikh Americans in census data. The 2020 Census marked progress by allowing Sikh respondents to identify themselves through the write-in option under the race question, enabling their responses to be tabulated separately rather than grouped with Asian Indians. However, there was no separate Sikh checkbox.
UNITED SIKHS warned that removing race and ethnicity questions could eliminate this direct identification route unless an equally effective alternative is introduced. It said retaining a separate Sikh coding category would not be sufficient without a meaningful opportunity for individuals to self-identify and access to useful public demographic statistics.
The organisation has called on the Bureau to count residents without categorical immigration-status exclusions, preserve Sikh self-identification and distinct demographic coding, and protect confidential information from unauthorised non-statistical use.
It has also urged the Bureau to examine whether immigration-related questions and record-matching practices could discourage participation or lead to errors. Other recommendations include providing Punjabi-language census materials and building sustained partnerships with gurdwaras and trusted community organisations.
Emphasising that public confidence is essential for accurate enumeration, UNITED SIKHS urged the Census Bureau to build on the progress made in 2020 and protect inclusion, confidentiality and community visibility.
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