White House press secretary Sarah Sanders defended the Trump administration’s decision to include a citizenship question on the 2020 Census and said the aim is to “have data” the administration can use “for specific things.”
Sanders was asked Wednesday whether the White House had considered enforcing a federal statute imposing a fine on people who fail to answer questions on the Census truthfully.
“The goal is to have data that we can use for specific things. We think that having accurate data is important,” she told reporters during the White House press briefing. “I’m not aware of a mass campaign to start fining individuals. But we certainly want people to follow the law, whether it’s the Census or anything else, people should follow the law and the law should be enforced.”
The Department of Commerce announced Monday it would be adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The Trump administration said the inclusion of such a question will allow for more effective enforcement of the Voting Rights Act.
A citizenship question hasn’t been included on the Census questionnaire since 1960, and already the Trump administration is facing several legal challenges to the addition.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit in the wake of the Commerce Department’s announcement, and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is planning to file a multistate lawsuit against the Trump administration over the citizenship question.
At least a dozen states have already signaled a willingness to sign onto Schneiderman’s challenge.
The attorneys general believe including a citizenship question will affect states with large immigrant communities and cost those states billions of dollars in federal funds.
