Congressman Jesús "Chuy" García Welcomes Supreme Court Decision to Remove Citizenship Question from 2020 Census

Statement

Congressman Jesús "Chuy" García (IL-04) released the following statement after the Supreme Court ruled that the proposed citizenship question for the 2020 U.S. Census cannot be added for now, in part because the Trump Administration's explanation for adding the question is inadequate.

"I have been opposed to the citizenship question in the 2020 Census since it was first announced. As I suspected, the Trump administration added the citizenship question to decrease Census participation by racial minorities and immigrants. If we aren't counted in the Census, then we don't count fully in our democracy. This is wrong.

"Thanks to evidence uncovered by the House Committee on Oversight and other sources, we learned that officials in the Trump Administration and Republican operatives conspired to add the citizenship question to the Census to deprive racial minorities of their constitutional right to be counted. If communities of color are not fully counted, they reasoned, it would give Republicans the advantage in redrawing the lines of legislative districts throughout the country. The citizenship question was added solely for political purposes. The Supreme Court saw past the Administration's lies and ordered the question be removed.

"Today's Supreme Court decision is welcome news. Our fight to count every single person, however, is not over. The Court's decision leaves the door open for future attempts to include a citizenship question.

"I will do everything possible to make sure the 2020 Census counts every person in my Congressional District and every person in our country.

In 2018, as Cook County Board Commissioner for the 7th District, Congressman García filed an Affidavit in connection with State of New York, et al. v United States Department of Commerce, et al. expressing concerns about how his constituents would be affected by the citizenship question in the 2020 census.

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