A reckless decision

by Tom Perez — Democratic National Committee

[From a ‘get on our database’ and ‘send money’ email by Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez, with those features redacted but republished because he has something important to say.]

This week, the Trump administration announced that they intend to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census — and now it’s up to us to stop them.

Adding this question to the census, especially at this point in the process and without any testing, is extremely reckless. It could decrease response rates in communities with large immigrant populations and produce inaccurate results due to incomplete counts. Congress depends on those results not only to decide how to distribute federal resources — but also to determine the number of congressional districts in each state.

This calculated move is a clear attempt by Republicans to maximize their political power and undermine fair representation in government. We must do everything we can to stop it.

Many immigrants are already fearful of deportation under the Trump administration. Including a citizenship question on the census will spread more fear among immigrants who are worried the information will be used against them.

But this move is not only another attempt to intimidate immigrants — it is an attempt by Republicans to sabotage important census data to rig our political system in their favor. It is critical that we speak out against it.

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