The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Trump administration Wednesday to challenge its decision to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census.
Filed on behalf of five immigrants’ rights groups in federal court in Manhattan, the ACLU suit argued the Department of Commerce committed statutory and constitutional violations by including the question. The ACLU is asking the court to keep the question off the census form.
“[T]he addition of the citizenship question is a naked act of intentional discrimination directed at immigrant communities of color that is intended to punish their presence, avoid their recognition, stunt their growing political power, and deprive them and the communities in which they live of economic benefits,” the complaint stated.
The lawsuit argued that the addition of a citizenship question will “sow enormous fear in immigrant communities of color” that will discourage participation and lead to an undercount. An undercount, the group argued, will lead to a reduction in federal funds allocated to states and local communities with large immigrant populations.
It said that because states use census data to draw congressional, state, and local districts, an undercount would cause immigrant communities to be underrepresented in their districts.
The ACLU also accused the Trump administration of harboring an “undisputed and undisguised animus toward” immigrants, and cited recent immigration enforcement actions, its decision to end temporary protected status programs for people from five different countries, and its push to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program as evidence of that hostility.
“President Trump is adding the citizenship question into his toxic stew of racist rants and draconian policies in order to stoke fear, undercount, and strip political power from immigrant communities,” Sarah Bannon, managing attorney for the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, said in a statement.
The Department of Commerce announced in March the 2020 census would include a citizenship question, which the administration said was needed to ensure proper enforcement of the Voting Rights Act.
The decision from the Commerce Department came after the Justice Department called for the question to be added to the census in a letter to the agency in December.
In addition to the lawsuit from the ACLU, a coalition of more than a dozen states is also suing the Trump administration over the citizenship question.
