2020 Census Citizenship Question Controversy

This is the first article in a short series that gives highlights and updates regarding hot button immigration issues. 

The Citizenship Question
On March 26, 2018 Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the U.S. Census Bureau, announced the intention of adding a citizenship question on the 2020 census. His reasoning for this change is to root out violations of the Voters Rights Act by monitoring voter demographics.

Consequences

• Immigrant communities, especially undocumented people, may not participate in the census, due to fear of their status being used against them or their families (The Times Editorial Board). This fear is not unwarranted:
  • U.S. government provided the Secret Service with names and addresses of Japanese-Americans in the Washington D.C. area during World War II (Jordan)
  • During Rhode Island’s dry run with the citizenship question in Providence on April 9, 2018 the Latinx population were reluctant to participate (Clark).
• Significance of undercounting
  • inaccurate political representation in the electoral college and seats in the House of Representatives
  • misinformation regarding demographics
  • Lack of federal resources/ funding that can affect schools and other public entities (Weiser & Wolf).

Resistance/ Responses Taking Place
Active Lawsuits

• California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington have filed suit, arguing that including the question is a violation of the United States Constitution, as it would result in not counting all people residing in the U.S., despite citizenship statues (The Editorial Board).
• Attorney General Eric Schneiderman of New York announced he would lead a multistate legal challenge also on the basis of U.S. Constitutional violations of both the 14th Amendment and the Enumeration Clause
• NAACP, contesting that the structure of 2020 census (inadequately funded, online format, and understaffing of team) will lead to a massive undercount of minitories (Freking)
• ACLU, filing on behalf of five immigrants’ rights groups in Manhattan federal court arguing that the Department of Commerce committed statutory and constitutional violations (Quinn)

Non-legal  Responses

• A coalition of 19 attorney generals and the State of Colorado, urging the U.S. Department of Commerce (Attorney General Schneiderman).
• Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, believes administration is purposely trying to erase the immigrant community by inducing fear,
  • vows to mount a campaign to, “make sure that [the immigrant] community understands that they should participate [in the 2020 census]” (Jordan).

Avenues of Advocacy Remaining
There are still more actions that can be taken today to prevent having a citizenship question on the 2020 census. Some of those include:

1. Congress passing legislation to override decisions taken by the commerce department
2. The commerce department modifying its position, using the power it has under The Census Act, which puts in place the strongest protection that exists in federal law and those who violate the law are fined up to $5,000 and/ or are sentenced up to five years in prison
3. Ordinary community members advocating before congress and/or the Commerce Department, asking them through email, phone call, or citizen lobbying, to take actions towards not including the citizenship question.

And if at the end there is a citizenship question on the 2020 census individuals should:

1. Participate in the 2020 census, to ensure the accuracy of the census results.
2. Prepare to hold the U.S. Government accountable to the The Census Act, that protects participants of the census and their privacy.

Bibliography
The Times Editorial Board. “Asking for Citizenship Status Politicizes the Census and Imperils an Accurate Count.” Los Angeles TImes, 29 Mar. 2018, www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-census-citizenship-20180329-story.html.
“Attorney General Schneiderman To Lead Multistate Lawsuit To Preserve Fair And Accurate Census.” Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood, New York State Attorney General , 27 Mar. 2018, ag.ny.gov/press-release/attorney-general-schneiderman-lead-multistate-lawsuit-preserve-fair-and-accurate.
Clark, Dartunorro. “Trump Wants to Ask about Citizenship on the Census. Here's Why the U.S. Stopped in 1960.” NBC News, 17 Apr. 2018, www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-wants-ask-about-citizenship-census-here-s-why-u-n864246.
Freking, Kevin. “NAACP Files Lawsuit over 2020 Census.” PBS News Hour, 28 Mar. 2018, www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/naacp-files-lawsuit-over-2020-census.
Jordan , Miriam. “If Census Asks About Citizenship, Some Already Have an Answer: No Comment.” New York Times, 27 Mar. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/us/census-undocumented-immigrants.html.
Quinn, Melissa. “ACLU Sues Trump Administration over Census Citizenship Question.” Washington Examiner, 6 June 2018, www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/courts/aclu-sues-trump-administration-over-census-citizenship-question.
Weiser, Wendy, and Thomas Wolf. “Why The Census Asking About Citizenship Is Such A Problem.” Huffington Post , 27 Mar. 2018, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-weiser-wolf-census-citizenship_us_5aba6334e4b054d118e74f3f.

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Jessica Rodriguez

Advocacy & Programming Intern at Racially Just Utah