By: Carolyn McAtee Cerbin – usatoday.com – March 27, 2018

The Trump administration’s decision to ask people about their citizenship in the 2020 Census set off worries that non-citizens will dodge the survey altogether, diluting political representation for states that tend to vote Democratic. (March 27) AP

The Commerce Department is reinstating a citizenship question to the 2020 Census for the first time in decades, a move that some arguewill lead to an undercount of minorities living in the United States.

The U.S. Census Bureau counts the total number of people in the country — not the total number of citizens — every 10 years. Though it usually doesn’t ask about a person’s citizenship status, the Justice Department asked the agency late last year to include the question. It is the first time the government has done that in 70 years.

The Census count is used to redraw congressional districts, so it can affect the makeup of Congress, and to determine where federal, state and local funds will be used to build new schools, roads, health care facilities, child-care centers and senior centers. It also forms the basis of countless government and academic studies that drive public policy decisions and legislation from Washington, D.C., to statehouses and city halls.

In a statement released Monday night, the Commerce Department said the question was being added to help enforce the Voting Rights Act. The department pointed out that previous Census surveys before 1950 consistently asked citizenship questions.

Critics were quick to blast the department’s justification, however, saying the move was designed to undercount immigrants and minorities.

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Source: Citizenship question is back on the 2020 Census