Hispanic reps rip citizenship question on 2020 census

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) on Tuesday blasted the Trump administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, calling it “dangerous” and “deeply political.”

“The political decision to add an untested and damaging question about citizenship to the 2020 Census at the 11th hour will suppress participation,” CHC Chairwoman Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.) said in a statement.

“This is yet another action by the Trump Administration to instill fear in communities and further an anti-immigrant agenda,” she added.

Grisham and nearly 20 other members of the CHC signed off on a letter notifying Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross of their opposition.

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Grisham urged other members of Congress to support legislation that would prevent the citizenship question from being added to the census.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Rep. José Serrano (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) have all pledged to push such legislation following Ross’s announcement.

Ross announced his decision Monday night to reinstate the citizenship question in a post on the Commerce website, despite strong objections from Democrats in recent weeks.

The Department of Justice under Attorney General Jeff Sessions has pushed for inclusion of the question, arguing that it would allow the department to better enforce the Voting Rights Act.

Ross argued that the benefits of reinstating the question, which has not appeared on the Census in decades, outweighs concerns over a potential dip in response rate.

Democrats have argued that adding the question would result in an inaccurate population count because it would discourage some immigrants from filling out the questionnaire, given the Trump administration’s crackdown on those in the country illegally.  

A number of Democratic attorneys general said they intend to bring legal action against the Trump administration to stop it from adding the citizenship question.