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Hispanic Federation Statement on Census Citizenship Question Court Decision

NEW YORK, NY — Hispanic Federation President José Calderón issued the following statement regarding a federal court's decision to strike down the Trump administration's attempt to insert a citizenship question in the 2020 Census:

“The Board of Directors and member agencies of Hispanic Federation are grateful and relieved that U.S. District Court Judge Jesse Furman today ordered the Census Bureau not to insert a question about citizenship in the 2020 Census. We join in solidarity with hundreds of thousands of individuals and organizations across our country in applauding this decision.”

“Judge Furman has crafted a methodical and unequivocal rejection of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ arguments in favor of including the citizenship question, highlighting the flawed process that was followed in order to achieve a nakedly political objective. Despite his claims to the contrary, Secretary Ross’ insistence on including the citizenship question in the 2020 Census was motivated by partisanship and a desire to weaken the political clout of his party’s political opponents.”

“The decennial census has, as Judge Furman noted, ‘massive and lasting consequences.’ Everything from electoral power to budgetary apportionment is based in large measure on the data collected by the census. In this way, the census is one of the central building blocks upon which our government is structured. Asking a question about citizenship would cause millions of potential respondents to avoid participating in the census for fear of retribution by the Trump administration. Given the anti-immigrant policies pursued by the President, this fear is well-founded.”

"An inaccurate census count would cause damage to communities across the United States, most especially Latino and immigrant communities. This is unacceptable. Hispanic Federation will continue its vocal advocacy for a fair and complete census and continue to oppose any attempt by the Trump administration to politicize and harm this constitutionally-mandated process.”