Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Commerce Department: Census will include citizenship question for first time since 1960

The 2020 census questionnaire will feature a question regarding citizenship status in an attempt to better enforce the Voting Rights Act, the Department of Commerce revealed Monday night.

According to the agency, the citizenship question will be included per a request from the Justice Department in December.

"Having citizenship data at the census block level will permit more effective enforcement of the VRA, and Secretary [Wilbur] Ross determined that obtaining complete and accurate information to meet this legitimate government purpose outweighed the limited potential adverse impacts," the Department of Commerce said in a statement Monday.

The possibility of including the citizenship question has faced backlash from California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who argued in a San Francisco Chronicle op-ed published earlier Monday the question would be illegal and "An extraordinary attempt by the Trump administration to hijack the 2020 census for political purposes."

After the Commerce Department's announcement, Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., said the decision was "Reckless" and said she would look to introduce legislation that would prevent the question from being included.

"The decision to add this question without any testing at this late stage is deeply troubling and reckless," Meng said in a statement Monday night.

The Commerce Department noted "Almost every decennial" census conducted from 1820 to 1950 featured questions "On citizenship in some form." The question hasn't been asked since 1960.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/commerce-department-for-the-first-time-since-1960-census-will-include-question-on-citizenship 

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