From Connecticut Attorney General William Tong:
Attorney General William Tong today issued the following statement on the decision by a federal court judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York finding that the U.S. Secretary of Commerce violated federal law in adding a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. Census, that the action was “arbitrary and capricious” and that the question should be barred from the census questionnaire. Connecticut is a plaintiff state in the litigation:
“The states, many experts, former Census Bureau directors and even Census Bureau research all agree that demanding citizenship information on the U.S. Census would depress participation–particularly in immigrant communities that feel justifiably threatened by the Trump Administration’s openly hostile political agenda. The judge in this case has agreed, and I appreciate the depth of the analysis that the court has provided in stopping this question from being included on the 2020 Census.
“My office will continue to work with our colleagues in other states to defend this decision against any appeal because the stakes for states like Connecticut are simply too great. Efforts that chill participation in the census and result in an undercount of our residents would directly impact our fair representation and potentially billions of dollars in federal funding for education, infrastructure, healthcare programs and more. The U.S. Constitution requires a census that determines ‘the whole number of persons in each state,’ and that is exactly what we will fight to ensure the federal government conducts.”
From State Rep. Chris Rosario:
Deputy Speaker Christopher Rosario (D-Bridgeport) issued the following statement on the announcement of a court decision to block the Trump Administration from adding a citizenship question to the #2020Census.
“As I have said, a citizenship question on the Census 2020 was unnecessary and an assault on Latinos, immigrants and our democracy,” Rep. Rosario said. “A citizenship question would have severely impacted census participation to the detriment of federal funding and our voice in Congress.”
Rep. Rosario had joined with Latino legislators across the country to denounce the decision to include a citizenship question on the upcoming #2020census.
“I will continue to monitor this issue closely so efforts to keep the question off the census continue to hold true,” Rep. Rosario added. “We will keep the pressure up on the Trump Administration to thwart any actions to fight this decision.”
