GOVT 2306 HCCS American Federal System Questions – Description
THE FIRST ASSIGNMENT : (2020 Census Assignment).
Introduction to Texas History and Politics Assignment
To understand the way Texas government works, it’s important to know a little about the the state – that’s why the first chapter of nearly every Texas government textbook is a crash course in the history, culture and demographics of Texas.
Every ten years, the U.S. Constitution requires the federal government to conduct an “actual enumeration” of the nation’s population in order to determine how many congressmen should be elected from each state.
As our semester begins, the 2020 data from the U.S. Census has just been released, and it shows some interesting things. The population of the country increased 7.4%, but the demographics are changing. The “white” population of the country dropped for the first time in history, a decline of 2.6%. The number of people who identify as more than one race or ethnicity grew at the fastest rate of any demographic group, a trend that is likely to continue. Slightly more than half of all population growth was among Hispanic or Latino residents. Geographically, large metropolitan areas in the South and Southwest saw the strongest growth.
What do the new Census numbers say about Texas, and about the neighborhood where you live?For this assignment, go to the U.S. Census Bureau’s website: https://www.census.gov/
The Census website is amazing, but can be a bit confusing. I think the best way into this is to go here: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/
Type in your zip code where it says “Explore Census Data” and hit enter. On the left side, you should see a selection of tables from which to choose to learn about population, demographics and housing, etc. On the right side of the page, you should see a little map of your zip code, which it calls a ZCTA5 (zip code tabulation area – 5 digit) and an option to “view profile.” That will tell you about things like income, education, employment – even the average commute for people who live there to get to work. Spend a little time browsing around.
Ok…from all of that, your assignment is to write a 3 – 5 page essay about your zip code.( the zip code your going to use for this assignment is ZCTA5 77074). There’s a ton of information here – don’t try to tell your reader everything. Pick out some things you think are interesting – maybe something that surprised you about the people in your area – the racial percentages, wealth and poverty, types of housing, percentages of families without health insurance, what people do for a living, etc. Talk a little about how that compares to your observations, your sense of the place from actually living there. What confirms what you already thought? What surprised you? What opportunities and/or challenges do you see that might impact the choices we should make through our government institutions?
Submit in Word. Cite your sources.
Additional Resources
The Census thinks it may have missed a LOT of Texans in its most recent official count – maybe enough to have cost the state a congressional seat:
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/19/census-2020-texas-undercount/
While our region is growing, the City of Houston – like many other major cities – is starting to lose population. Is this temporary, or the beginning of a trend? Blogger Bill King discusses this:
https://billkingblog.com/eight-of-ten-largest-u-s-cities-including-houston-lost-population-in-2021/
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THE SECOND ASSIGNMENT.
American Federal System Assignment – Immigration
The precise number of foreign immigrants residing in Texas illegally is impossible to know, but estimates are that somewhere between 1.5 million and 2 million people in Texas are illegal immigrants.
The reasons for this are controversial and complex, and we’re not going to solve them in this assignment, but we are going to look at the puzzling question of the proper role of the state government of Texas in this public policy problem.
Immigration is clearly a federal responsibility. Article I of the U.S. Constitution charges the U.S. Congress with the creation of a “…uniform Rule of Naturalization…,” the historical meaning of which is explored HERE (https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/art…)
The same article goes on to give Congress the authority to( https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/art…)
and Article IV requires the federal government to protect each state against “invasion.” Most scholars view this to mean armed attacks by the military forces of enemy governments, but Texas Governor Greg Abbott has (https://www.fox4news.com/news/gov-greg-abbott-invo…) as a justification for (https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/operation-lone-sta…) , a major expenditure of state revenue dealing with what nearly everyone agrees should be a national problem.
Write our usual 3 – 5 page essay on the proper roles of the federal and state governments in enforcing immigration law. Most important – at one point does a state have a right and/or a responsibility to act on its own if it believes the federal government isn’t holding up its end of the bargain?
Important note: This is not an essay about illegal immigration, or about how you think immigrants should be treated, or anything like that. This assignment pertains to the federalism unit in our course, and is about the conflict between state and federal rights and responsibilities.
Submit in Word. Cite your sources.
Resources.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform thinks the number of “illegal aliens” (their term) is much higher than some other estimators: https://www.fairus.org/issue/illegal-immigration/how-many-illegal-aliens-are-united-states-2023-update
Here are the Migration Policy Institute’s 2019 estimates for Texas: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/unauthorized-immigrant-population/state/TX
Here’s more on Operation Lone Star: https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/operation-lone-star-continues-unprecedented-border-mission-into-2023 and https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/operation-lone-star-cracks-down-on-criminal-trespassing
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court (https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/22-5…) rejected Texas’ argument that it’s unconstitutional for the federal government to focus immigration enforcement on immigrants convicted of other felonies: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/23/supreme-court-texas-biden-immigration/
Governor Abbott explains his invocation of the Invasion Clause:
https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/operation-lone-star-escalates-unprecedented-border-security-efforts
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