House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sharply criticized President Trump’s repeated efforts to have a question about citizenship on the 2020 census. Pelosi claimed in a Monday press conference that Trump’s insistence on adding the question was “disgraceful” and that he wants to “make America white again.”
The president has been outspoken in his advocacy of having the question on the upcoming census claiming that it would serve to protect minority voters, an idea that has been rejected by his opposition. Many congressional Democrats have fought to keep the question off as they feel it could discourage immigrants from participating in the census, therefore weakening the amount of money communities could be entitled to based on population.
Pelosi further accused the president and his administration of malicious intent saying, “They want to make sure that people, certain people, are counted … Just their people vote and not the general population … That’s why they’re fighting the census.” Pelosi further claimed the question was “not what our founders had in mind.
The Supreme Court blocked the administration’s measure to have the question added last month, returning the decision to lower courts. In the decision, Chief Justice John Roberts cited a lack of evidence presented by the Commerce Department for adding the question but left open the possibility that the question could be added if the correct justification is made. Attorney General William Barr also indicated on Monday that there could be a new way for the Justice Department to add the question.
The latest Economist/YouGov poll found that the majority of Americans, 53%, want the citizenship question on the census while only 32% opposed the idea.
