CENSUS/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration is downplaying concerns about a possible low participation in the 2020 Census over the addition of a citizenship question for the first time in 70 years…The question has been asked every year in the American Community Survey, which is sent to fewer than 3 percent of U.S. households. The Justice Department requested early this year that the Census Bureau reinstate a citizenship question to provide more detailed data that the department could use to more effectively enforce the Voting Rights Act. Democrats are overwhelmingly opposed to including the citizenship question, saying it will depress the count in communities with large immigrant populations. Ross said his office plans to spend $500 million in advertisement explaining the data cannot be used for immigration enforcement or purposes different than the compilation of census statistics. Ross also said during a conference held at the National Press Club that the citizenship question will be the last in a questionnaire printed in both English and Spanish to make it easier to whoever feels uncomfortable answering it.”
-Luis Alonso Lugo, “Trump administration downplays concerns over census question,” The Associated Press, May 14, 2018 1:57 pm