California sues Trump administration for asking about citizenship on census

California fears the question will skew the data and undercut its political position

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra continued to build his record of suing the Trump administration (REUTERS/Patrick T. Fallon)

California has sued the Trump administration over its decision to ask about citizenship status on the 2020 census, warning it would cut into California's political clout by diminishing responses by immigrants.

It is not merely an academic question. Because the census count is used for critical political decisions like apportionment of Congressional seats and allocation of federal dollars, the move to ask about citizenship has proved deeply contentious and generated significant pushback.

In the latest of a barrage of legal challenges against the administration, California attorney general Xavier Becerra said the change to ask respondents about their legal status would skew the data, disproportionately depriving California of representation and resources given its large foreign-born population.

“Undercounting the sizeable number of California non-citizens and their citizen relatives will imperil the State’s fair share of congressional seats and Electoral College electors and will cost the State billions of dollars in federal funding over the next decade”, a complaint filed by Mr Becerra said.

Echoing that critique, Senator Barbara Feinstein said “a question designed to depress participation in certain communities is an assault on the foundations of this country”.

Asked about the change, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders inaccurately told reporters that the citizenship question had been included on every census but one in recent decades and said the data would help the government comply with the Voting Rights Act.

“Given President Trump’s toxic rhetoric and aggressive policies toward immigrants, it’s clear his administration wants to include this question to discourage participation in immigrant communities”, Ms Feinstein said in a statement. “Individuals living in mixed-status households may be afraid to participate, fearing their responses would be used to target them or their families”.

The Department of Justice, led by immigration hardliner Jeff Sessions, asked the Census Bureau last year to reinstate a citizenship status question that has not been put to respondents since 1950.

In a memorandum explaining the decision to reintroduce the question, commerce secretary Wilbur Ross said asking about citizenship would bolster the government’s ability to enforce voting laws and said there was insufficient evidence that it would curb response rates.

“I find that the need for accurate citizenship data and the limited burden that the reinstatement of the citizenship question would impose outweigh fears about a potentially lower response rate”, Mr Ross said.

A Commerce Department spokesman declined to comment on the California lawsuit's specifics but said in a statement that “this case is without merit”.

“We look forward to prevailing in court and continuing to work with the Census Bureau to conduct a complete and accurate 2020 census”, the spokesman said.