Blue states sue Trump over census citizenship question

[mystery-ak]

Blue states sue Trump over census citizenship question
By Reid Wilson - 03/27/18 11:57 AM EDT

Democratic attorneys general in several states said Tuesday they would bring legal action to stop the Trump administration from adding a question on citizenship to the next U.S. census, a question they said would lead to serious undercounts that could reverberate for years to come.

The administration said late Tuesday it would include a question on the decennial survey that would ask whether respondents are American citizens.

That question has not appeared on a Census questionnaire since 1950. Civil rights groups and Democrats in blue states said the question, combined with the Trump administration’s hostile attitude toward immigrants, could lead to undocumented immigrants avoiding the Census altogether, creating an underestimation of the number of residents who live in certain states.

more
http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/380458-blue-states-sue-trump-over-census-citizenship-question

[jmyrlefuller]

Civil rights groups and Democrats in blue states said the question, combined with the Trump administration’s hostile attitude toward immigrants, could lead to undocumented immigrants avoiding the Census altogether, creating an underestimation of the number of residents who live in certain states.

Yeah, so what? They're not supposed to be here, and legally, they shouldn't be recognized as being here.

Besides, the question stated citizenship, not lawful residency, so it's not breaking the 5th Amendment.

[TomSea]

Trump's doing it all, wants to address chain migration too which brings in about a million a year, but some grandstanders and their supporters have to feign ignorance on the issue. That's a winner.

[kevindavis007]

I wonder what will happen to California if they no longer count Illegal immigrants.

[DB]

Why should states get representation (more house members) based on the count of non-citizens that can't legally vote in those elections???

One of the primary points of the census is to determine how many house members the state should have to represent it. Can't do that without finding out who can legally vote or not.

[mystery-ak]

FLASHBACK: Bill Clinton’s Census Asked About Citizenship

The long form Census questionnaire included questions about citizenship.

https://ntknetwork.com/flashback-bill-clintons-census-asked-about-citizenship/

[libertybele]

I wonder what will happen to California if they no longer count Illegal immigrants.

    

[edpc]

I wonder what will happen to California if they no longer count Illegal immigrants.

They'd lose House seats and electoral votes, which is why they're dead set against it.

[ABX]

This isn't as big of a deal as some make it out to be. Prior to the 2010 census, citizenship was asked.

Question 13 of the 2000 census form specifically asked the following.:
Is this person a CITIZEN of the United States?
-Yes, born in the United States—>Skip to 15a
-Yes, born in Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or Northern Marianas
-Yes, born abroad of American parent or parents
-Yes, a U.S. citizen by naturalization
-No, not a citizen of the United States


This question, in some form or fashion, has been on the census since 1850.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

There is no justification for suit.

Federal is the only domain which can control the census.

[Concerned]

I think there's a lot of confusion about whether citizenship has been asked on the US Census or not.  This was probably exacerbated by Sarah Sanders' comments today when she said:  "“This is a question that's been included in every census since 1965, with the exception of 2010, when it was removed."  In Wilbur Ross's memo on the subject, he notes:

Prior decennial census surveys of the entire United States population consistently asked citizenship questions up until 1950, and Census Bureau surveys of sample populations continue to ask citizenship questions to this day. In 2000, the decennial 'census "long form" survey, which was distributed to one in six people in the U.S., included a question on citizenship. Following the 2000 decennial census, the "long form" sample was replaced by the American Community Survey ("ACS"), which has included a citizenship question since 2005.

Although it may have been asked on the long form, that only went to about 1 in 6 people in the US when it was in use.  The ACS also only includes a sample of the population and is done annually.  The decennial census (which IS the actual census that's conducted every 10 years) hasn't had the question on citizenship since 1950 contrary to Sanders' assertion today.  (My wife works with census data so I've got an in-house expert).

https://www.commerce.gov/sites/commerce.gov/files/2018-03-26_2.pdf