Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) released the following statement criticizing the Commerce Department’s decision to politicize the non-partisan 2020 Census by including a question on citizenship:
“I am alarmed that the Trump Administration is politicizing the Census by the addition of a citizenship question. This decision trades the accuracy of a census designed to provide complete count of the entire nation’s population for a political win for President Trump. This is a direct attack on immigrant populations that could lead to undercounted and underfunded minority districts across the country. It is an assault on our representative democracy and our Constitution which requires a complete and accurate count of everyone living in the country, no matter their citizenship status.
“I will continue to work with my colleagues in the Senate to pass the Every Person Counts Act which would prohibit this question from disrupting the accuracy of the census and sowing fear into immigrant communities.”