ACLU Comment on Trump Administration Plan to Include Citizenship Question in 2020 Census

March 27, 2018 11:45 am


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NEW YORK — The Trump administration announced it will include a question about U.S. citizenship in the 2020 census.

Dale Ho, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, had this reaction:

“The Trump administration’s decision to include a question on citizenship in the 2020 census is disastrous. It will severely undermine the accuracy of the census count, particularly in communities of color, which will lose representation and federal resources as a result.

“Five former directors of the census, serving in both Republican and Democratic administrations, have opposed this decision. The notion that it is necessary for Voting Rights Act enforcement is laughable, given that the census has not included a citizenship question since the enactment of the VRA in 1965. The ACLU has fought the Trump administration on numerous fronts, and we will fight it here.”

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