Trump calls Census 'meaningless' without citizenship question
President Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at Democrats for fighting his administration’s attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, a controversial move set to undergo legal scrutiny by the Supreme Court in the coming months.
“Can you believe that the Radical Left Democrats want to do our new and very important Census Report without the all important Citizenship Question,” Trump tweeted. “Report would be meaningless and a waste of the $Billions (ridiculous) that it costs to put together!”
The president’s comment comes one year ahead of the next Census milestone, April 1, 2020, the date by which the Census Bureau plans to send a letter or door knocker to every U.S. household. The massive data collection is undertaken every ten years and has major implications, including alterations to the apportioning of congressional seats, the drawing of political districts, and allocations of local and federal funding.
Trump’s administration made waves in March of last year when it announced the addition of the citizenship question, garnering multiple lawsuits from states, cities and civil rights groups jockeying to get the query removed.
Critics of the question claim it has political motives and aims to underrepresent Democratic-leaning communities in Congress.
The addition was also proposed amid the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration, opponents said, claiming the question could cause a massive drop in response rates from immigrants who worry the information could be used to deport them.
A federal judge in New York blocked the Trump administration from adding the question in January, arguing that the addition was illegal and intended to discriminate against noncitizens.
Arguments will take place before the Supreme Court in April, and a decision should come by late June. Justices agreed to a speedy review of the lower court ruling because the questionnaires need to be printed soon.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/01/trump-census-citizenship-1246499