“This is a recipe for sabotaging the census,” said one. The administration’s stated reason for the controversial move: protecting civil rights.
by Justin Elliott
This report was published on December 29.
The Justice Department is pushing for a question on citizenship to be
added to the 2020 census, a move that observers say could depress
participation by immigrants who fear that the government could use the
information against them. That, in turn, could have potentially large
ripple effects for everything the once-a-decade census determines — from
how congressional seats are distributed around the country to where hundreds of billions of federal dollars are spent.
The DOJ made the request in a previously unreported letter, dated Dec. 12 and obtained by ProPublica, from DOJ official Arthur Gary
to the top official at the Census Bureau, which is part of the Commerce
Department. The letter argues that the DOJ needs better citizenship
data to better enforce the Voting Rights Act “and its important
protections against racial discrimination in voting.”
A Census Bureau spokesperson confirmed the agency received the letter
and said the “request will go through the well-established process that
any potential question would go through.” The DOJ declined to comment
and the White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Observers said they feared adding a citizenship question would not
only lower response rates, but also make the census more expensive and
throw a wrench into the system with just two years to go before the 2020
count. Questions are usually carefully field-tested, a process that can
take years.
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Source: Propublica
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