Representative Adriano Espaillat Statement Following SCOTUS Decision to Withhold Citizenship Question from the 2020 Census

The Constitutionally-mandated Decennial Census is undeniably one of the most consequential duties carried out by our federal government. If immigrants and communities of color are excluded or intimidated from participating in the Census, the results will undercount our communities by millions.

 Representative Adriano Espaillat released the following statement on the Supreme Court decision in U.S. Department of Commerce v. New York to withhold the Trump Administration’s citizenship question from the 2020 Census.

“While today’s Supreme Court decision in Department of Commerce v. New York on the inclusion of the citizenship question in the 2020 Census was mixed, the Court expressed clear skepticism as to the Trump Administration’s motives,”said Rep. Adriano Espaillat (NY-13). “Notably, the decision reads that, ‘Viewing the evidence as a whole, we share the District Court’s conviction that the decision to reinstate a citizenship question cannot be adequately explained in terms of DOJ’s request for improved citizenship data to better enforce the Voting Rights Act. Several points, considered together, reveal a significant mismatch between the decision the Secretary made and the rationale he provided.’ The Court sees right through the administration’s blatant lie that it needed to include a citizenship question to expand and enforce voting rights.

“To rehear this case with new evidence and further Trump Administration lies will take a significant amount of time that could result in the delay of the enumeration, having a more serious impact on the functioning of our democracy. The Trump Administration should drop its ridiculous effort to include a citizenship question, so we can have an on-time and accurate Census.”

The Constitutionally-mandated Decennial Census is undeniably one of the most consequential duties carried out by our federal government. If immigrants and communities of color are excluded or intimidated from participating in the Census, the results will undercount our communities by millions. This will diminish our congressional representation and the federal funding communities receive for the next decade, as well as determine the course of our democracy for generations to come.