Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Tuesday that his department was still considering whether it would add a question asking people to state their citizenship as part of the upcoming 2020 Census, reinstating a practice that was dropped in 2010 during the Obama administration.
The Justice Department inquired last year whether such a question could be added to the once-a-decade survey of the U.S. population, the government’s source of statistical information regarding the country. President Trump has said the question should be added.
“We have not yet made a decision of the Department of Justice’s request. It’s a big and very controversial request. We are taking it very seriously but not yet made a decision,” Ross told the House Appropriations Committee Tuesday. He gave no indication when the decision would be made.
The Justice Department formally said in a Dec. 12 letter to the Commerce Department that it needed the information to properly enforce the Voting Rights Act, since the law prohibits the “dilution” of majority-minority voting districts and therefore influxes of immigrants could impact the voting power of African-Americans.
“Reinstating a question on citizenship will best enable the department to protect all American citizens; voting rights under Section 2 [of the act],” it said.
Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., an immigration rights advocate, has criticized the move, saying it would harm the bureau’s ability to get an accurate count since non-citizens will not want to give out that information. “I don’t think that the Census should be used to create more division, more fear, more hiding from people who should be forward in being counted. So, when you make your … decision, don’t be afraid to tell somebody, ‘Have you read the Constitution?'”
The Trump administration is requesting $3.8 billion for the Census Bureau in the coming fiscal year, $3.1 billion of which would be devoted to taking the decennial Census. Ross said the once-a-decade task was the “top priority” of his department, and he had “total confidence” in the department career staff who would be handling it.
