Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Tuesday President Trump’s decision to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census is in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
“The Trump administration’s late night announcement of a new citizenship question violates the clear constitutional mandate to provide an accurate count of all people living in the United States,” Pelosi argued in a statement.
“The Trump administration put politics over the Constitution and, in so doing, ignored the consensus views of former Census Bureau directors of both parties,” Pelosi continued.
Pelosi also said the addition of the question to identify citizenship would be detrimental to “vulnerable communities.”
Instead of the census question proposed by the Trump administration, Pelosi said Congress must work to pass Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s, D-N.Y., 2020 Census Improving Data and Enhanced Accuracy Act.
The Department of Commerce announced Monday that the 2020 census would feature a question regarding citizenship. The department said the question would help better enforce the Voting Rights Act.
