Growing controversy over the upcoming census. Now Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh is weighing in.
Earlier this week the Census Bureau announced the 2020 census would include a question asking residents their citizenship status.
Pugh, who is the Chairwoman of the Census Task Force for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, is one of many calling for the question to be removed. She told Fox News the U.S. Conference of Mayors came to the conclusion that it is not an appropriate question for the census. "Everyone who is in this country should be counted so that we can make sure the resources that are needed in the communities which there exist are shared properly," said Pugh.
This is not a partisan issue.
If someone calls America “home,” they should be counted when we consider how to allocate resources for the next decade. @usmayors from across the political spectrum, Democrat AND Republican, agree. Period. #census2020 pic.twitter.com/pgNkZHF8FM
— Mayor Catherine Pugh (@MayorPugh50) March 30, 2018
Officials are concerned the citizenship status question could cause fewer immigrants to participate in the census and cause an inaccurate count.
The census determines how much federal funding and how many congressional seats states get for a 10-year period. "Those resources go to infrastructure, they go to schools, they go to community development. And all those things are important to all of us, whether we are Democrats or whether we are Republicans," said Pugh
Again on Fox News - defending the view of the Conference of Mayors that we should not be politicizing the Census process - count every person in our country! So much depends on this and for 10 years! pic.twitter.com/oPUar7PHsE
— Mayor Catherine Pugh (@MayorPugh50) March 29, 2018
The Department of Justice requested the citizenship question be added to the 2020 census. The department said it needs that information to better enforce voting discrimination under the Voting Rights Act.
Since U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced on March 26 that the 2020 census will ask about citizenship several states, including California, have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration to get the question removed.
A citizenship question has not been on the census since World War II.
